Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung on Friday said police would also conduct patrols in and around West Kowloon Court accompanied by sniffer dogs. The trial starts on Monday.

“If anyone intends to disrupt the trial or attempts to intimidate individuals involved in the judicial process, we will not hesitate to take immediate action,” Tang warned.

He said the new arrangements were being put in place because authorities had noticed that some people who watched court proceedings in the past had engaged in disruptive behaviour including shouting loudly or even following lawyers into restrooms to intimidate them.

Tang also said people had previously attempted to block police cars used to transport defendants and had banged on the windows.

Chinese embassy condemns UK’s ‘flagrant interference’ in Hong Kong affairs

Lai, 76, is facing charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces for allegedly calling for international sanctions against Hong Kong and central authorities and inciting public hatred in the wake of the city’s anti-government protests in 2019.

The founder of the now-folded Apple Daily newspaper has spent nearly three years in custody. The court has estimated the trial will take at least 80 days.

The tycoon’s son, Sebastien Lai Sung-yan, met British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in London on Tuesday to seek the United Kingdom’s support for his father’s release.

The Chinese embassy in London strongly condemned the meeting, calling it “flagrant interference” in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.

In May, the High Court upheld a government decision to bar a British lawyer, Timothy Owen, from representing Lai in the trial, ruling such judgments on national security matters were free from judicial intervention.

The court cited Beijing’s interpretation of the national security law in finding the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, comprising Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and other officials, had the final say on whether an overseas lawyer was fit to take up work pertaining to the country’s safety.

US sanctions ‘may force Hong Kong to transfer national security cases to mainland’

The National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the nation’s top legislative body, made the interpretation in December last year.

Lee had applied for the interpretation following the High Court giving its approval for Owen to defend Lai in October, which the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal upheld.