Hong Kong protests: mainland China student and two 14-year-olds among eight charged over shopping mall mayhem
- Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University student He Zhenyu, 20, caused a commotion with four local teenagers at a pharmacy, a court heard
- Five were charged with one joint count of disorderly conduct in a public place
A university student from mainland China and two 14-year-olds are among eight suspects charged over a rally at a Hong Kong shopping centre, where protesters demonstrated on Saturday against so-called parallel traders and shoppers from across the border.
Fanling Court heard on Tuesday that Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University student He Zhenyu, 20, had caused a commotion along with four local teenagers – including a 14-year-old boy – by shouting at customers at a Mannings pharmacy in the Landmark North shopping centre in Sheung Shui.
After customers left and the pharmacy closed, the five students dropped screws and advertising posters on the shop floor through gaps in the folding gate at the entrance, senior prosecutor Alan Yau Sik-lun said.
He, together with Sin Ka-hei, 18, Cheng Tsz-shun, 18, Jerry Chan Yu-kwan, 16, and the 14-year-old, were charged with one joint count of disorderly conduct in a public place.
Two others, unemployed Cheng Ka-leung, 24, and cook Fung Man-tat, 27, faced another joint count of assaulting a police officer, after they allegedly attacked two officers who rushed to the scene to arrest offenders.
The prosecution only identified the officers as X and Y.