Student protester carried airgun for ‘self defence’, court hears
Sixteen-year-old was caught by police carrying an eight-inch air pistol and 1,000 pellets by police at the scene of demonstrations against the Legco rule book change last year
A secondary school student on trial for possessing an imitation firearm told a court on Tuesday that he carried the air pistol out of fear that he might be attacked for supporting Hong Kong independence.
Lau Hong, who first made headlines for brandishing a pro-independence banner during a photo opportunity with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last November, told the Eastern Court that he had seen his supporters attacked by anti-independence activists right outside his school.
Adding to his fears were news reports of fighting near his school and random brawls started by strangers on the streets, the 16-year-old said.
“I worry that I might be assaulted because I support independence,” he continued. “So I brought the pistol in self defence.”
On December 12 last year, Lau was intercepted by police while carrying an eight-inch air pistol – with a fully loaded magazine, a bottle of 1,000 yellow plastic pellets and an aiming light – near a pan-democrat protest against changing the Legislative Council’s rule book, which he attended.
