Hong Kong protests: 5 convicted of rioting, resisting police during clashes on National Day in 2019

Judge Ernest Lin rules theatre actor, four students must have taken part in demonstrations given their black outfits and protest equipment in their possession

Verdict in line with legal principles confirming prosecutors’ wide power to indict riot and unlawful assembly suspects who took part by ‘abetting’ others to commit the crime with their attire and presence at the scene

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A theatre actor and four students have been convicted at the District Court of rioting and resisting police during clashes on National Day in 2019. Warton Li

Published: 5:25pm, 31 Dec 2021Updated: 8:20pm, 31 Dec 2021

A theatre actor and four students have been convicted of rioting and resisting police on National Day during Hong Kong’s anti-government protests two years ago.

The District Court verdict on Friday was in line with the legal principles set down by the city’s top court last month, which confirmed prosecutors’ wide power of indicting riot and unlawful assembly suspects who took part by “abetting” others to commit the crime with their attire and presence at the scene.

The charges arose from the clashes on a thoroughfare in Wong Tai Sin district on October 1, 2019, which marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Protesters set up barricades during a demonstration in Wong Tai Sin on October 1, 2019. Photo: James Wendlinger

Official celebrations and events that day were overshadowed by citywide demonstrations linked to a now-scrapped extradition bill, which would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to mainland China, among other jurisdictions. The social unrest later evolved into a wider anti-government movement.

Hundreds of protesters, most of them masked and wearing helmets, barricaded a section of Lung Cheung Road near Wong Tai Sin MTR station from 3pm and confronted police in what the judge called a guerilla-style battle. A dozen motorcycles were set alight at the height of the conflict.

Theatre actor Kwok Siu-kit, 30, and student Cheung Kai-cheong, 22, were seen trying to climb over an iron fence on the roadside in an attempt to flee after police gave chase. Three others – Ho Man-him, 27, Wan Tsz-lam, 19, and Mak Ho-wai, 24 – were intercepted and subdued nearby.

Despite a lack of evidence pointing to actual participation, Judge Ernest Michael Lin Kam-hung ruled they must have taken part given their black outfits and protest equipment in their possession.