Hong Kong protests: former opposition lawmaker rues not getting the chance to prevent ‘raincoat man’ from falling to his death
- Democratic Party member Roy Kwong, also a social worker, tells Coroner’s Court he has a track record of persuading suicidal people to return to safety, but police rejected his advances
- An inquest is being held into the death of Marco Leung, who died after falling from an Admiralty shopping centre during the 2019 protests
Social worker Roy Kwong Chun-yu recounted to the Coroner’s Court on Friday how he rushed from the Legislative Council to Pacific Place shopping centre in Admiralty on June 15 that year when he heard that a man, later revealed as Marco Leung Ling-kit, was threatening to jump from the fourth floor.
The 38-year-old Democratic Party district councillor, a legislator until last November, admitted he was unaware at the time that Leung – posthumously known as “raincoat man” for the yellow item of clothing he wore that day – was carrying a boxcutter as he stood on scaffolding outside the mall and next to a banner bearing protest slogans.
Although Kwong said he respected police’s decision to only let their negotiators handle the situation, he added his experience of communicating with suicidal people in his capacity as a social worker and district councillor could have had a positive impact during the stalemate.
“I had hoped [police] would allow me to play a part [in negotiations]. I can only say it was very regrettable,” Kwong said.
Leung, 35, was protesting against the now-withdrawn extradition bill on a makeshift platform that was 17 metres above ground at about 4pm that day. He fell five hours later and was pronounced dead in hospital.
Superintendent Nip Hoi-kwan, the commanding officer at the scene, told the court earlier that he found it too risky for Kwong and others to be involved because they did not know Leung and had not received any negotiation training.