Hong Kong courtroom packed as 37 face rioting charges and are banned from entering parts of Mong Kok | South China Morning Post
Hong Kong courtroom packed as 37 face rioting charges and are banned from entering parts of Mong Kok
Defendants, including Hong Kong Indigenous spokesman Edward Leung and Undergrad magazine editor-to-be Stephen Ku, charged with one count of rioting. Some tell court police used excessive force during arrests
Four police buses ferrying the defendants arrived before 9am. Photo: Edward Wong
The first of the 37 defendants charged in connection with a Mong Kok Riot on Tuesday has appeared before a magistrate at Kowloon City Court, and was barred from entering parts of Mong Kok as he was granted bail.
Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution David Leung Cheuk-yin SC asked the court to impose an injunction on clerk Ho Siu-cheung on the grounds of public safety.
Ho, 21, charged with one count of rioting, was the first to appear in Kowloon City Court on Thursday. He is accused of participating in a riot between February 8 and 9 in Mong Kok.
Ho has been barred from setting foot in an area near Fai Yuen Street, Dundas Street and Shanghai street.
READ MORE: Localist group in Mong Kok violence unlikely to make headway in Hong Kong political arena
Leung asked for the case to be adjourned to April 7.
“This is for further police enquiries and legal advice,” he said.
Other defendants who have appeared so far have faced the same charge and injunction. Their case was also adjourned to the same day.
Those charged include activist group Hong Kong Indigenous spokesman Edward Leung Tin-kei, who is running for the upcoming Legislative Council by-election, and Stephen Ku Bok-him, the editor-to-be of Hong Kong University’s student magazine
Undergrad
The other defendants are: Sung Kwun-wo, Sit Tat-wing, Kenny Wong Hok-shun, Kenny Chan Ao-tien, Cheung Chin-to, Tam Hiu-Tung, Mok Pak-hin, Lin Yun-fat, Wong Sai-kit, Li Cheuk-hin, Chan Koon-ki, Tang King-chung, Wong Ho-sing, Leo Chan Siu-kwan, Sit Kwun-fai, Lee Sin-yi, Lai Man-tsun, Chan Hei-man, Philip Tsang Chiu-yu, Leung Tin-kei, Lee Nok-man, Li Pui-ho, Ken Lo Kin-man, Chan Cheuk-hin, Chan Pak-yeung, Ng Ting-kai, Churk Ling-hon, Tsang Kin-hang, Chan Ho-man, Hui Ka-ki, Mak Tsz-hei, Stephen Ku Bok-him, Chan Wo-cheung and Mo Jia-tao.
Photographers snapping pictures while suspects are escorted to Kowloon City Court. Photo: Edward Wong
In court, some defendants complained police had resorted to excessive force during arrests.
Through his lawyer Chris Ng, defendant Chan Yu-kei said he faced violent treatment from police officers, who ganged up on him and beat him up on the night of the incident.
“He was hit in the head with police batons, resulting in blood all over his face,” Ng said of his client, who had his forehead covered in bandages.
Ng also said another defendant he represented, Lin Yun-fat, told him that police kept him awake for 40 hours before they took his statement. Lin was allegedly told he would be charged with attending an illegal assembly before the statement was taken.
Acting chief magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen noted Lin’s complaints as inducement, but he said the court would not take note of Chan’s complaint because the court was independent from the police.
After the hearing, defendants on bail began leaving the courthouse police cell in batches. They were escorted away by groups of their supporters, some in hoods and wearing masks, as an enormous press pack gave chase through the streets.
Suspects facing charges connected to the Mong Kok riot arrive at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court. Photo: Edward Wong
The case attracted a lot of attention from the public, with the Kowloon City courtroom becoming packed just minutes after it opened its doors on Thursday morning.
More than 100 people gathered at the fifth floor of Kowloon City Court before entry to the courtroom that was expected to hear the defendants’ cases was allowed at 9.15am. The court’s public gallery seats were filled in less than three minutes.
It was not immediately clear whether the crowd was composed of supporters of the defendants, but at least one person was spotted wearing a black surgical mask.
Among the crowd, there were activists, including Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung, University of Hong Kong’s student union president Billy Fung Jing-en, and founder of now-defunct political group Student Front Alvin Cheng Kam-mun.
One of the defence counsels, Fiona Chong Fok-ching, explained legal procedures to relatives of defendants outside court. Two women, who held hands with a child, became emotional and began to sob.
READ MORE: Mong Kok riot – 38 charged and to appear in court as Hong Kong asks how New Year’s night turned to violence
The Mong Kok riot began on Monday night as a group of activists from Hong Kong Indigenous confronted police and hygiene officers to “protect” illegal street hawkers in Mong Kok. Masked activists threw bricks and bottles at police, while police used batons and pepper spray and fired two warning shots into the air.
Of the 64 arrested in connection with the incident so far, the police have charged 35 men and three women aged 15 to 70. One of those charged is out on bail.
Meanwhile, 16 people between the ages of 14 to 33 were released on bail pending further investigation, while another 10 remain detained for further enquiries.
According to the police, rioting is a serious offence that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment