Hong Kong police defend arrest of Baptist University student leader for possessing laser pointers, even as lawmaker and professors question evidence to prove motive of accused
- Police call items ‘laser guns’ and defend arrest by demonstrating power of beams they produced at press conference
- Lawmaker and professors condemn arrest, saying pointers were bought legally and it was not clear if they were meant to harm anyone
Hong Kong police have defended the arrest of a student leader for possessing 10 laser pointers by experimentally showing at a press conference on Wednesday how the beams they emitted could burn a hole in sheet of paper in 10 seconds.
Describing the seized items as “laser guns”, Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung of Police Public Relations Branch said the beams could “flash blind” someone and also cause serious eye injuries.
To make their point, police pointed one of the lasers at a piece of paper no more than arm’s length away.
The force conducted their demonstration less than 24 hours after Keith Fong Chung-yin, 20, the president of Baptist University Students’ Union, was arrested for possessing 10 of the pointers.
Fong was taken into custody after he spent HK$4,200 (US$536) to buying pointers from a stall in Apliu Street, Sham Shui Po, at about 7.30pm on Tuesday. His arrest prompted hundreds of protesters to besiege the district police station that evening.