Hong Kong protests: man jailed after exposing sensitive police operation during Polytechnic University siege
- Officers were trying to spy on protesters from museum near campus when Chan Chi-wah revealed their location online
- Senior officer terminated reconnaissance over safety fears, and magistrate sentenced Chan to six months in prison for obstruction
A man has been jailed for six months for obstructing police by exposing a reconnaissance operation for flushing out protesters from Polytechnic University at the height of Hong Kong’s social unrest in 2019.
Kowloon City Court heard police were scouting for vantage points from the Hong Kong Museum of History, situated next to the besieged campus, in Tsim Sha Tsui on November 17 when a chief inspector found pictures of his officers on Telegram – a messaging app used by many protesters – and realised the operation had been exposed.
At the time, police had surrounded the university and were trying to remove protesters, who had been occupying the campus for almost a week.
To secure a better vantage point, a small team of officers sought help from museum staff, including contractor Chan Chi-wah, 44, and asked them to lead the way to suitable locations.
09:09
The saga of the siege at Hong Kong's PolyU
The two photos widely circulated online captured a uniformed officer by a window, and were attached with an audio recording, in which a male voice identified himself as working in a museum in Tsim Sha Tsui.