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Arthur Li says that he felt Billy Fung was inciting protesters to attack him in the January incident. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

HKU governing council chairman felt threatened over student protesters’ behaviour, Hong Kong court hears

Arthur Li testifies that he felt scared when demonstrators started pulling on his shoulder and arm after student leader Billy Fung’s call to kill him

Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung testified on Thursday that he felt his life was threatened when he left a University of Hong Kong governing council meeting this January because protesters were pulling him in response to a student leader’s call to kill him.

“I was very scared,” he told the Eastern Court six times.

Li was testifying against Billy Fung Jing-en, 22, who pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal intimidation and its alternative charge of disorderly conduct in public place outside the Hong Kong Jockey Club Building for Interdisciplinary Research in Pok Fu Lam on January 26.

He said he was leaving the building with other councillors at 8.45pm when the former student union president repeatedly called out to protesters: “Don’t let him go! Don’t let Arthur Li go! Kill him! Kill him!”

Less than a minute later, he said protesters were pulling on his shoulder and arm as he tried to leave the chaotic scene through a “human bridge” formed by security officers.

“It was the first time that someone was actually pulling me, shouting out loud to kill me, I felt my life was threatened,” he continued. “I felt [Fung] was inciting protestors to attack me.”

Assistant director of public prosecutions Derek Lai Kim-wah said protesters were calling for a dialogue with Li.

Their assembly followed a three-hour council meeting, during which Li said councillors reviewed school governance and agreed to set up a panel to review the University of Hong Kong Ordinance.

He recalled the protesters as being very emotional and rude, chanting slogans and swearing at them, and that he was worried someone might fall and trigger a domino effect or cause a stampede.

Defence counsel Martin Lee Chu-ming SC asked: “In retrospect, would you agree with me that it was not a wise decision for you and your council members to leave the building under such circumstances?”

Li disagreed and said that he followed the advice from school security, which escorted him back into the building until he could leave again at 12.30am the next day.

I felt [Fung] was inciting protestors to attack me.
Arthur Li Kwok-cheung

The court heard that protestors had tried to re-enter the building, with Fung pulling open the door and shouting: “Does anyone want to go in to find Li Kwok-cheung?”

But his attempts were blocked by security, reinforced by police officers, leaving a broken glass door with a repair bill of HK$458.13.

The incident was captured in multiple video clips, which defence had accepted as authentic.

On Thursday, Fung pleaded guilty before magistrate Ko Wai-hung to two counts of criminal damage and attempted forcible entry.

Meanwhile, his co-defendant, then union vice-president Coleman Li Fung-kei, 21, denied obstructing a senior ambulanceman who eventually took nearly two hours to take councillor Leonie Ki Man-fung to the hospital after she was kicked three times by the protestors.

He was accused of shouting: “Ki Man-fung is faking death! Don’t let her go!”

The trial continues on Friday.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: ‘I felt my life was threatened,’ Arthur Li tells court
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