Hong Kong protests: theatre worker found with ‘weapons’ at demonstration scene cleared after telling magistrate they were stage props

Magistrate accepts pocket knife, spanner and two pairs of forceps related to Cheung Tsz-hin’s job as a theatre design assistant

Cheung, 27, cleared on Friday of possessing offensive weapons at anti-government protest scene in November last year

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A Kowloon City magistrate ruled the prosecution had not proven its case against Cheung Tsz-hin beyond reasonable doubt. Photo: SCMP

Published: 7:14pm, 9 Oct 2020Updated: 9:05pm, 9 Oct 2020

A theatre design assistant found with a folding knife, spanner and two pairs of forceps at the scene of a Hong Kong protest last year has been acquitted of a weapons charge after a magistrate accepted his defence that they were stage props.

Kowloon City Court on Friday cleared Cheung Tsz-hin of one count of possessing offensive weapons in the early hours of November 1, 2019.

Anti-government protesters had taken to the streets of Mong Kok the previous night to express their anger at a controversial police operation inside Prince Edward railway station on August 31 that year.

The 27-year-old was intercepted by Constable Yu Chin-wang, who found the defendant standing next to a man waving an American flag outside Kam Ming Court, 800 metres from Mong Kok Police Station.

The officer said he searched Cheung because protesters had assembled outside the police premises the previous night, but admitted there were no demonstrations in progress by the time he spotted the defendant.

Giving Friday’s verdict, Magistrate June Cheung Tin-ngan observed that the defendant had explained to police why he was carrying the alleged weapons at the first available opportunity, while Yu did not caution the defendant when questioning him, showing that even the officer did not harbour suspicions.