Lawyers for an activist accused of hitting Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen during a protest in March said yesterday the allegation was not supported by evidence.
No witnesses saw the alleged attack nor did a video played in court show it, Kowloon City Court was told.
Lawyers for alleged attacker Wong Chun-kit, 25, and fellow protester Wong Ho-ming, 22, also said that 'a trivial rough incident occurring in a moment of animal exuberance' during a demonstration should be tolerated in a democratic society.
But prosecutors said only 'peaceful' demonstrations would be tolerated and protesters whose unruly conduct put people in fear for their safety must be punished.
The lawyers and prosecutors were making their final submissions after the court ruled that there was a case for the pair to answer on one count each of behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place.
They were accused of intending to provoke a breach of peace during their noisy protest over the then recently released budget on March 1, when Tsang was on his way to the Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui to open an exhibition marking the centenary of the 1911 revolution.