Constable denies disguising himself as protester during siege of Hong Kong police headquarters
- Cheung Kam-fuk testifies at trial of construction worker accused of rioting and assault over incident in June last year
- Officer says he arrived at Wan Chai building wearing T-shirt and shorts after being called in for duty and protesters started beating him
A policeman has denied disguising himself as an anti-government protester in an attempt to incite others to storm the force’s headquarters at the trial of a demonstrator accused of rioting and assault during the social unrest last summer.
Constable Cheung Kam-fuk recalled the incident as he testified in the District Court against construction worker Shum Hiu-lun, 26, who has denied both charges stemming from the siege of the Wan Chai police headquarters on the night of June 26 last year.
The officer has come under the media spotlight over speculation he posed as a protester during the incident following a peaceful demonstration in Central against the now-withdrawn extradition bill.
Video footage played in court showed the officer in a grey T-shirt and brown shorts running from the crowd gathered outside the headquarters, then fleeing up an escalator to take temporary shelter outside the main entrance on the building’s upper ground floor, which was closed off at the time.
He was then seen picking up a traffic cone and a squeegee, while protesters shone laser lights at him. He eventually entered the police building with the help of colleagues.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Cheung denied he pretended to be a protester to encourage the crowd to break into the headquarters, saying he went to Wan Chai after a supervisor called him to help protect the building.
But upon arriving at 11.30pm, all the entrances were blocked by the crowd, he told the court. Several protesters approached him and identified him as an officer even though he never showed his police card and began to harass him, Cheung said.