Hong Kong’s former Democratic lawmaker among seven sentenced for rioting after mob attack in 2019 Reuters

James Pomfret and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong court on Thursday convicted prominent former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting of rioting after he was attacked by a white-shirted mob in July 2019 at the height of pro-democracy protests that year.

On the night of July 21, 2019, more than 100 men in white shirts stormed the Yuen Long MTR station in the northwest of the territory, attacking passers-by and journalists with sticks and clubs. Ten attackers ended up in prison for disorderly conduct and conspiracy to injure with intent.

Lam, 47, a longtime member of the Democratic Party, was arrested 13 months after the incident and charged with rioting and aiding and abetting violence.

He told the court he rushed to the scene to help but ended up being taken to hospital with injuries to his head, mouth, arm and wrist which required 16-18 stitches, after being attacked.

District Court Judge Stanley Chan said he did not believe Lam was going to mediate but wanted to gain some political advantage as his posts on Facebook ( NASDAQ: ) attracted more people like a “magnet.”

“His purpose was to provoke an emotional confrontation with the people in the white shirts and fan the flames,” Chen said.

Six other men: Yu Ka-ho, Jason Chan, Yip Kam-sing, Kwong Ho-lam, Wan Chung-ming and Marco Yeung were also convicted.

Some relatives began to cry after the verdict, while Lam, who pleaded not guilty like everyone else, appeared indifferent with his arms folded in the dock.

In a nearly four-hour hearing in a packed courtroom, Chen detailed how the men retaliated by spraying fire hoses and extinguishers, as well as throwing water bottles at the mob.

He rejected arguments that some had acted in reasonable self-defence or to protect others, but that they had shown “bullying behaviour” which led to further provoking the white-clad gang.

Chen also said the slow deployment of police that night was “not an excuse to provoke the other side, or even an excuse to use violence against violence.”

The verdict is on February 27 with a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

In the ongoing crackdown on dissent in the Asian financial center following the 2019 protests, pro-democracy activists have been jailed or exiled, liberal civil society and media shut down, and electoral reform has blocked opposition democrats from the polls.

Countries including the United States have criticized the crackdown, but authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong say everyone is treated equally under the law, and two sets of national security laws passed since 2020 have restored stability.

Lam is already serving six years and nine months on a separate national security charge.

“Such a verdict is unfair to those brave people who tried to save passengers, including me, from being attacked by the (in)white shirt mob and an act of self-defense,” said Galileo Cheng, a journalist who was injured in the attack. , he told Reuters.