Anti-Occupy protester who threatened to burn down Mong Kok site jailed

A man who brandished a bottle of paint thinner and a lighter as he threatened to burn pro-democracy demonstrators in Mong Kok was jailed for six months in Kowloon City Court yesterday.

Ma Hei-yuk, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place.

Handing down the sentence, Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen said: "Your act was reckless and very dangerous. You could imagine serious harm could have been done to lots of people and the situation could have been out of your control. The consequences could have been horrible."

But Law took into account the fact that the incident happened during the Occupy Central protests, and that there was no end in sight to the sit-ins at the time.

"The incident took place on October 22 - the protest had been going on for some time. No matter where you stand on politics, this movement was causing distress and there was no light at the end of the tunnel," Law said.

"I can understand that emotions were running high at that time."