Hong Kong protests: student convicted of rioting at PolyU spared jail after judge accepts she is remorseful
- Design school student Lee Ka-hei, 20, was the first person at university campus during siege to be found guilty of rioting
- Lee has been sentenced to three years’ detention in training centre
A judge has decided against jail time for a student convicted of rioting after she stayed at a Hong Kong university to show her support for anti-government protesters demonstrating nearby during the 2019 social unrest after the court accepted she was remorseful and had no plans to attack police.
Hong Kong Design Institute student Lee Ka-hei, 20, was sentenced at the District Court on Friday to three years’ detention at a training centre after she pleaded guilty to two counts of rioting in connection with the fierce stand-off near Polytechnic University in Hung Hom on November 17 and 18 that year.
Lee, who was 18 at the time of the offence, was one of more than 1,200 people arrested in the area during a police siege of the campus that came at the height of the anti-government protests.
While dozens of demonstrators have been convicted of rioting within the university’s vicinity, Lee was the first to be found guilty of the offence for being inside the institution.
The battle at PolyU followed a week of street violence, chaos and traffic disruption across Hong Kong, with thousands of protesters demanding accountability for what they said was an excessive use of force by police during the unrest.
A prosecution case summary said protesters occupied PolyU in an organised manner, with some barricading the university’s entrances and disabling its surveillance camera system, while others paralysed traffic outside the campus and attacked police with petrol bombs, bows and arrows, and other hard projectiles.
The court heard that those trapped inside the university had aided and abetted the violence outside by keeping an abundant supply of Molotov cocktails, handmade weapons and protective equipment.