Former Hong Kong legislator drops lawsuit against police chief over Yuen Long attack
- Opposition politician Lam Cheuk-ting, who is currently awaiting trial on national security charges, had been seeking compensation for injuries sustained in the 2019 mob attack
- His lawyer and former Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho says the prospect of winning the suit was dim given the government appeared to view the plaintiffs as ‘personal enemies’
Speaking on behalf of Lam on Wednesday, Democratic Party member Winfield Chong Wing-fai said his colleague believed it would be difficult to pursue the long and complicated litigation from his jail cell, particularly in light of the current political climate.
Lam and seven others filed the lawsuit in January last year, nearly six months after the attack on July 21 2019, in which a group of white-clad men wielding rattan canes and metal rods indiscriminately beat commuters and anti-government protesters in and around Yuen Long MTR station, injuring 45.
The attack proved to be a watershed moment during 2019’s protests, provoking a public outcry over the belated police response, and even prompting unsubstantiated accusations that the force had colluded with the aggressors.