Student accused of attacking senior Post editor Cliff Buddle pleads 'not guilty'

A mainland student accused of assaulting University of Hong Kong lecturer and South China Morning Post editor Cliff Buddle pleaded not guilty yesterday.

Liu Lu, 26, who says he is a student of Beijing' prestigious Tsinghua University, is facing a charge of common assault for attacking the Post's special projects editor.

Eastern Court principal magistrate Bina Chainrai heard that Liu, posing as an HKU student, barged into a classroom in which Buddle was teaching a media law and ethics class on Monday.

Hearing Buddle conducting the class in English, he urged the lecturer to switch to Chinese, the court heard. It is alleged he then punched Buddle several times.

Liu originally pleaded guilty to the charge, but changed his plea after disputing part of the indictment read to him in court.

"I was not pretending [to be an HKU student]," he said.

Of the alleged assault, he said: "I used a notebook, and it came into contact with him."