“Demonstrations can bring conflict to society and to state security,” said the secretary for security at a press conference reviewing crime in the first quarter of the year.
“This has to do with the well-being of our country. We cannot, because of one person’s interests, harm our people,” Wong Sio Chak told reporters.
During the pandemic, security forces refused to approve any protest routes, citing “order and security” or public health reasons.
The authorities lifted anti-pandemic restrictions at the end of 2023, but protests have not returned to the city’s streets.
These bans reached the UN Human Rights Committee, which in 2022 assessed “a growing number of reports of undue restrictions on the exercise of freedom of peaceful demonstration”.
Wong Sio Chak reiterated the semi-autonomous Chinese region’s respect for the right to demonstrate, but stressed that “it cannot impact society”.
The Macau People’s Power group cancelled a demonstration planned for 1 May due to “pressure from the police”, who claimed that the protest could violate the National Security Law, according to All About Macau.
According to the online newspaper, the Public Security Police (PSP) confirmed that it had received notification of a demonstration for Labour Day, but said that the organiser had withdrawn it voluntarily.
“The police did not put any pressure on him,” said Wong Sio Chak.
“We are negotiating public order, as before, because a demonstration has to occupy public space and may also involve many people,” said the secretary.
The Macau People’s Power Association said it expected 20,000 participants in the 1 May protest, which would demand a reduction in the number of migrant workers.
Wong Sio Chak gave as an example an alleged decision by the police in Spain, which was confirmed by the courts, to ban a demonstration “involving two religious groups that could lead to conflict and disorder”.
Asked whether the Macau police had reason to fear that the Labour Day protest could lead to physical clashes, the secretary did not respond directly.
However, Wong stressed that “all police officers are afraid of conflict and aggression”.
On 1 May, Macau police arrested a man protesting against the presence of migrant workers in the region, citing a violation of the Right of Assembly and Demonstration Law, in the first protest held on Labour Day in six years.
