Hong Kong police will impose a high level of security for this weekend’s state funeral of the city’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, including providing protection for the three top Beijing officials attending the event, the South China Morning Post has learned.
However, the memorial service, originally planned as a public event, will instead be by invitation only due to venue constraints, the Office of Former Chief Executives announced on Thursday.
A command centre would be set up at the police headquarters in Wan Chai, and officers would be stationed at “every road junction and on every flyover” on the route taking the hearse carrying Tung’s body from the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point to the Cape Collinson Crematorium in Chai Wan, sources said.
A vigil will be held from 3pm to 10pm on Saturday at the funeral home and a memorial service will start at 9am on Sunday.
Tung died on September 8 at the age of 89 and was accorded a state funeral for his service as a deputy national-level leader and his contributions to the “one country, two systems” governing framework.
He became a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation’s top political advisory body, after stepping down as city leader during his second term in 2005.
The three top Beijing officials attending the event are: Shi Taifeng, Politburo member and first CPPCC vice-chairman; Wang Dongfeng, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and CPPCC vice-chairman and secretary general; and Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO).
Shi chairs the 87-member committee of political and business heavyweights overseeing the funeral arrangements, while Wang and Xia serve as deputy directors.
The two other deputy directors are Leung Chun-ying, a CPPCC vice-chairman and former Hong Kong chief executive, and current city leader John Lee Ka-chiu.
The force’s VIP Protection Unit will help guard the three visiting Beijing officials, who are expected to fly into the city on Saturday to attend the vigil, sources said. The Airport Security Unit will be on duty to ensure safety.
A command centre will be set up at the force’s Wan Chai headquarters, led by the regional commander of Hong Kong Island, while police tactical units will be deployed to surrounding areas, according to two sources.
“The security will be of the highest level,” one insider said. “It will be unprecedented as there has not been a funeral for a [former] chief executive before.”
Checks for suspicious items and bombs at the funeral home will be conducted by the force’s Key Points and Search Division, according to one source.
The Force Escort Group will be deployed to escort the hearse, another insider said. Special traffic arrangements and road closures are expected during the journey.
“There will be officers at every road junction and on every flyover,” the first source said.
Officers will also be stationed at the three public condolence points in Causeway Bay, Kai Tak and Tsuen Wan from Friday, he said.
The event this weekend is the third state funeral held since Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Industrialist Ann Tse-kai and tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung were granted state funerals in 2000 and 2006 respectively. Like Tung, both served as vice-chairs of the CPPCC.
The state funerals of Ann and Fok were coordinated by the central government, with the committees handling the arrangements each chaired by a CPPCC vice-chairman. The committee for Ann’s funeral had 65 people while Fok’s consisted of 74.
Both funerals were attended by senior mainland Chinese officials, including the HKMAO director, with the coffins draped in the national flag and state leaders laying wreaths in tribute.
Tung and Fok were among the pallbearers for Ann’s 2000 funeral. The industrialist was buried in Dapengwan Cemetery in Shenzhen.
Fok’s state funeral was also held at the Hong Kong Funeral Home, with the businessman buried at the Hong Kong Buddhist Cemetery in Chai Wan.
Governor Edward Youde was given a British state funeral after he died in December 1986. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
