Hong Kong man charged for ‘publicly mutilating’ Chinese national flag in Sha Tin – third protester to face flag-defiling charges
- Law Man-chung, 21, was brought to Sha Tin Court with three others to face charges over the clashes in Sha Tin on Sunday
- Law accused of ‘publicly and wilfully mutilating, scrawling on, defiling and trampling’ the Chinese flag
A Hong Kong delivery man was charged on Tuesday with desecrating the Chinese flag, the third protester taken to court for flag-related offences since the city’s protest crisis started in June.
Law Man-chung, 21, was brought to Sha Tin Court with three others to face charges over the clashes in Sha Tin on Sunday, when hundreds of demonstrators started a “singing protest” at a local shopping centre.
Law was officially charged with one count of desecrating the national flag. He was accused of “publicly and wilfully mutilating, scrawling on, defiling and trampling” the flag in the vicinity of New Town Plaza and Sha Tin Town Hall.
Prosecutors said they were ready to take the defendant’s plea, but Acting Principal Magistrate Ko Wai-hung adjourned the case to October 15 so Law could seek legal advice.
Ko granted Law, a transport worker, a HK$10,000 (US$1,275) cash bail, but ordered him to obey a curfew from 10pm to 6am, stay 100 metres (328ft) clear of New Town Plaza and report to the police three times each week.
Another protester accused of committing a flag-related offence was Wong Cheuk-lai, 22, a solar panel technician charged with conspiring to desecrate the flag at Tung Chung Swimming Pool on September 1.