Hong Kong police Facebook avatar and spokesman who found fame during Occupy Central leaving post
Steve Hui, aka ‘four o’clock Hui Sir’, became well-known for daily Occupy briefings, then became icon of Facebook page
It's time to say goodbye to "four o'clock Hui Sir". Chief superintendent Steve Hui Chun-tak is leaving the police force's public relations bureau later this month and will cease to be the icon on its Facebook page.
After leading the bureau for almost two years, a police source said Hui would leave in the middle of this month to become district commander in Sham Shui Po.
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The force launched its official Facebook page in early October in a bid to improve communications with the public by posting a variety of clips on police work.
The page also featured a "4 o'clock news channel" programme featuring an animated version of Hui. It explained to internet users that Facebook was not the most appropriate place to discuss ongoing police cases and that inappropriate comments would be deleted.
Hui was promoted to the post of chief superintendent in March last year. He became well-known during last year's Occupy movement, when he gave daily televised updates on police operations at 4pm, earning him the nickname "four o'clock Hui Sir".
His signature catchphrase "I will now recap in English" became an object of both affection and scorn as he routinely repeated his Cantonese-language briefings in English during his 4pm press conferences.
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The police source did not state the reason for the reshuffle, noting only that it was a common arrangement in the force.
Hui will be succeeded by Au Chin-chau, chief superintendent of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, who handled veteran journalist Kevin Lau Chun-to's brutal attack and an alleged bomb plot at an abandoned ATV studio complex in Sai Kung.
Less than one day after its launch, the page attracted some 10,000 likes. It was also flooded with more than 70,000 comments, many of them containing obscenities. The page now has more than 52,000 likes.
