Hong Kong protests: pair jailed for unprovoked attack on student they thought was plain-clothes police officer
- Joshua Wong and Lee Lok-hang sentenced to 26 months each after pleading guilty to rioting and wounding during incident in 2019
- The men assaulted 21-year-old in Causeway Bay because they found a Hong Kong police lanyard in his backpack when they forcibly searched him
Judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung, of the District Court, said on Wednesday that the irrational behaviour shown in this case was both legally and morally indefensible, as it involved violent protesters making unreasonable demands and taking out their frustrations on a vulnerable civilian in a commercial district, tarnishing Hong Kong’s reputation by their large-scale bullying and “silencing operation”.
Even if the victim had been a police officer, the judge said that did not justify the assault, adding that the hatred towards police was difficult to understand, like “a small dog chasing its own tail”.
“The community’s hatred towards the police appeared to be based on their use of force,” Lin said. “But it was the protesters’ conduct on the streets that gave police the opportunity to use force.”
He added that officers were not above the law and would face harsher punishment when they used excessive force, or even broke the law while on duty.
