HONG KONG - Edison Chen (below) has won over some netizens and parents in Hong Kong after he announced on Thursday that he would quit the city's entertainment industry over the sex photo scandal.

But the Hong Kong police have come under fire for wasting manpower and fielding too many officers to protect the singer-actor, who is said to have been threatened by gangsters with physical harm.

At the press conference, the 27-year-old admitted for the first time since the scandal broke last month that he had taken most of the 400-plus risque celebrity photos leaked online. He also said he would leave Hong Kong showbusiness indefinitely.

The photos were believed to have been stolen when he sent his laptop for repair in 2006. The police said they went to his home on Thursday evening and collected evidence including a computer.

Ming Pao Daily News said he received round-the-clock police protection as soon as he flew in from the United States on Thursday morning, via the Philippines.

More than 200 detectives, traffic policemen, witness protection officers and others were mobilised for the press conference, the report said.

When he met the media at the Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre, more than 80 police officers stood in a human chain around his car parked outside.

Legislators such as Mr Lee Cheuk Yan said the massive police mobilisation was 'problematic'.

He was quoted as saying in Apple Daily: 'They don't go to such great lengths to protect even the Chief Executive.'

But the police said the press conference was too packed and they needed many men to maintain order.

Ming Pao said more than 400 reporters were at the event.

The Edison Chen sex scandal has dominated the headlines in Hong Kong for weeks.

It stayed on the front page of newspapers such as Apple Daily for three weeks, after the first explicit photo featuring Chen and actress-singer Gillian Chung surfaced on Jan 27.

Chen was on the front page again yesterday. Most dailies including Ming Pao, Apple Daily and Oriental Daily News relegated another 'hot' story - The Straits Times correspondent Ching Cheong's first meeting with the Hong Kong media after his release from prison - to the inside pages.

Reports said Chen's apology and decision to leave Hong Kong showbusiness were generally well-received online.

Apple Daily said that at Hong Kong Discuss Forum, netizens voted 280-to-one for Chen's statement versus that of Chung, who apologised on Feb 11 and said she was 'naive and very silly'.

Ming Pao said some netizens were unhappy with Chung for glossing over her part in the sex photo scandal. They said she should quit too.

Hong Kong's Alliance of Parents Association chairman Chan Siu Chu told the South China Morning Post that he hoped Chen's apology would settle the affair.

'Youngsters now know that they must face the truth when they do something wrong, that they must try to fix the problem but not to escape from it,' he said.

Actors such as Anthony Wong, Chapman To and Sam Lee also expressed their support for Chen.

Some publicity experts criticised his performance, however.

Publicist Wong Chi Wai told Apple Daily that Chen should have taken reporters' questions, instead of reading a statement and then leaving.

'This is as good as being unwilling to listen respectfully to the media and the immediate public response. What's the difference between this and talking to air?'