Ex-lawmaker charged with rioting tells Hong Kong court he only went to scene of mob attack in 2019 as he feared ‘something bad might happen’
- Former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting tells District Court he had a bad feeling mass attack would break out at Yuen Long MTR station on July 21, 2019
- Lam says he was worried residents would be hurt by men armed with rods
A former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker charged with rioting at a railway station during the 2019 protests told a court on Tuesday he went to the scene out of concern after receiving many messages about a planned attack there by gangsters.
Former lawmaker and district councillor Lam Cheuk-ting, 46, took the stand at the District Court to defend his presence at Yuen Long MTR station on the evening of July 21, 2019, saying he went there largely because he had a bad feeling a mass attack would break out and residents would be hurt by a group of men armed with rods.
“I received messages warning that a group of pro-government people had been summoned and gathered in Yuen Long for a plot, with pictures showing bundles of bamboo sticks and white-shirted men assembled in one place,” he told the court.
“I was quite worried at the time that something bad might happen.”
Lam said he had called then Yuen Long District Council chairman Zachary Wong Wai-yin and checked if he had any information about an attack before deciding to leave Wan Chai, where he had joined a lawful anti-government protest in the afternoon.
He said he had been told someone had “written a script” for a plot, which was to engage a gang of white-shirted men to beat anyone dressed in black – the colour favoured by anti-government protesters – and act provocatively in Yuen Long.
