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Hong Kong protests: tossed water bottle lands factory worker in prison for 2½ years
- Gravestone factory worker Lai Chun-lok sentenced in connection with civil unrest at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin
- Judge dismisses defence claim that Lai was not part of riot that broke out in shopping centre
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A gravestone factory worker has been jailed for nearly 2½ years after being convicted of rioting for tossing a water bottle at police during a 2019 anti-government protest in Hong Kong.
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Lai Chun-lok was found guilty at the District Court on Monday in connection with the unrest at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin on July 14 two years ago, when more than a hundred protesters assembled in the shopping centre to chant slogans against a later-withdrawn extradition bill.
The 29-year-old was seen hurling a plastic bottle at a group of officers, who entered the complex hoping to disperse the gathering crowd.
Lai, who wore a grey T-shirt and a pair of slippers but no mask, was identified as having taken part after police reviewed the building’s security camera footage.
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The defendant admitted under caution that he had thrown the projectile because he was angry at people blocking his path, but denied doing anything unlawful. His lawyers also submitted during the trial that he had acted alone and was not part of the violence.
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