Hong Kong student gets 12 months’ probation for vandalising office of pro-Beijing lawmaker filmed shaking hands with mob attack suspects
- Anson Chu, 19, was spared jail for smashing a glass wall with a metal stand at Junius Ho Kwan-yiu’s branch office in Tsuen Wan on July 22
- His attack followed Ho being seen in a video shaking hands with men in white T-shirts linked to an attack on protesters at an MTR station
A 19-year-old student has been given 12 months’ probation for vandalising the office of a pro-Beijing lawmaker in Hong Kong, after the politician was filmed shaking hands with men who were later suspected to be linked with an indiscriminate mob attack at a railway station during last year’s social unrest.
Anson Chu Pui-hang was spared jail at Sha Tin Court on Monday for smashing a glass wall with a metal stand at Junius Ho Kwan-yiu’s branch office in Tsuen Wan on July 22.
He committed the offence one day after a white-clad mob attacked protesters and railway passengers at Yuen Long MTR station, leaving at least 45 people injured.
Ho, a rural leader, was seen in a video shaking hands with men in white T-shirts and thanking them on the night in question. The video went viral on social media.
Ho has since distanced himself from the assailants, but said on July 22 that their actions could be pardoned because they were merely “defending their home and people”.
At 4pm that day, protesters went on a rampage at Ho’s office in Tsuen Fung Centre by breaking windows and wrecking surveillance cameras and other property.
