Hong Kong district councillor arrested over claims he had earlier been detained and denied access to lawyer
- Cary Lo, 38, arrested after investigators found that he had never been held or taken to any police station, contrary to his claims
- Before his arrest, the Democratic Party councillor had said his online post was the result of a ‘serious discrepancy’ during a phone call with his assistant
An opposition district councillor in Hong Kong has been arrested for allegedly wasting police time after claiming in an online post that he had earlier been detained and denied the chance to meet his lawyer.
Cary Lo Chun-yu, 38, of the Democratic Party, was held on Wednesday after investigators found that he had never been held or taken to any police station, contrary to his claims.
Lo, who was elected to Tuen Mun District Council in November last year, had said on his Facebook page on Saturday night that he had been detained by police earlier in the day when he went to the vicinity of a park on Fung Yau Street North in Yuen Long after learning that officers had surrounded two male protesters there.
The councillor, a former bank compliance officer who studied law at the University of Hong Kong, also said he had been surrounded and subdued, with his hands held tightly behind his back while he was taken to a cordoned area.
He also alleged that officers had intimidated him with vulgar language, before he was taken to Yuen Long Police Station where his requests to contact a lawyer were refused.
Lo said he and two protesters were later released unconditionally.