Nazi banner and shouts prompt court to fine Hong Kong councillor over landfill protest

A district councillor was yesterday fined HK$2,000 for yelling and displaying a Nazi banner at a Legislative Council meeting as she protested against a proposed landfill expansion last year.

Sai Kung District Councillor Christine Fong Kwok-shan, 48, wore a t-shirt that read 'protect Tseung Kwan O' and held a banner bearing a swastika, the symbol of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party, when she protested against landfill expansion in Tseung Kwan O in Legco's public gallery on May 7 last year, Eastern Court heard.

A week after, on May 13, she was found yelling in the chamber's public gallery.

She was convicted of two counts of contravening an administrative order under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, to which she had previously pleaded not guilty.

Her assistants Cheung Mei-hung, 26, who was found guilty of the same two counts, and Fong Yu-ching, 30, who was convicted of one count of obstructing a Legco officer, were also each fined HK$2,000.

The three earlier argued that their right to express their opinion had been violated by Legco’s administrative orders, part of which forbade them to display any slogans.