[Lecture] “The Force is No Longer with You”: The Police and Hong Kong Protests

[Updated 28 September 2019: For friends who might have missed this talk by Mr. Randy Shek, here is the photo album.]


Public Lecture
Friday, 20 September 2019, 3:30–5:30 pm
Randy Shek (Barrister-at-law)
Room 104, Allard Hall, UBC
1822 East Mall, Vancouver
Free and open to the public

A City in Protest event
RSVP: cals@allard.ubc.ca

The Hong Kong Police Force has, for a long time, been deemed by the city’s residents as “Asia’s Finest.” But this reputation on the part of the Hong Kong Police as an efficient, disciplined, and impartial force has clearly taken a deep dive since the Umbrella Movement of 2014. A practising lawyer with a particular focus on criminal law, human rights, and civil liberties, Randy Shek will examine in this talk not only the evolution of this transformation but also its implications for Hong Kong and beyond.

Randy Shek 石書銘 is a practising barrister at Denis Chang’s Chambers, which is particularly well-known for their public law practice. His main areas of practice include criminal law, human rights and civil liberties, public law, and constitutional law. His recent notable cases include: defending for Joshua Wong in the Civic Square unlawful assembly case; representing Andy Chan Ho Tin when he was disqualified from running in the 2016 Legislative Council election and the subsequent banning of his separatist Hong Kong National Party; and acting for the defence in a Mong Kok Riot case as well as in the National Independent Party conspiracy to manufacture explosives case. He has also been directly involved in providing frontline legal support and representation to those who were arrested and charged in the recent civil unrests arising from the Hong Kong Government’s proposed amendments to extradition of fugitives law.

Mr. Shek is formerly a spokesperson for the Progressive Lawyers Group and is now a member of the Bar Council, which is the governing body of the Hong Kong Bar Association. He was responsible for preparing the Hong Kong Bar Association’s responses to the proposed amendments to the Fugitives Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance. Because of the intense controversies surrounding the Hong Kong Government’s proposed amendments, he has frequently been requested by the media to provide comments and analysis on the Hong Kong extradition regime and the impact of those amendments.

This public lecture is co-organized by the Centre for Asian Legal Studies and the Hong Kong Studies Initiative and is co-sponsored by: Department of Asian Studies, Centre for Chinese Research, and Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society.

Full event poster

*See also details for an accompanying community talk (in Cantonese) by Mr. Randy Shek.