Hong Kong protests: construction worker gets 40 months’ jail for tossing petrol bomb at police car
- Lai Chun-hung, 25, had previously pleaded guilty to tossing the burning bottle in a bid to halt the force’s advance towards a group of 100 protesters
- While the makeshift bomb did not explode, Judge Amanda Woodcock said a deterrent sentence was necessary given the inherent danger of the action
The District Court heard that Lai Chun-hung, 25, threw a burning bottle towards a police vehicle that had arrived at the junction of Hak Po Street and Soy Street in Mong Kok at about 5.45am on November 18 to disperse around 100 protesters who had gathered in the area.
The projectile landed about 5 metres away from the vehicle but did not explode.
Officers immediately stopped the car, then arrested Lai after giving chase for about 70 metres.
He was found to be carrying a variety of items on his tactical belt and inside a rucksack, including a knife with an 11cm blade, an extendable baton, a pepper gel canister, an awl, a rope saw and a catapult.
More than 250 people were also arrested in Yau Tsim Mong district that night, as many had answered online appeals to draw police manpower away from the siege of Polytechnic University, occupied by protesters.