Hong Kong court convicts accountant of rioting at Yuen Long MTR station in 2019, first verdict for person not linked to white-clad mob

Judge Clement Lee convicts Jacky Ho of one count of rioting, saying he claimed to be acting in self-defence when in fact he teamed up with others to fight white-clad mob

Verdict is first for person unaffiliated with stick-wielding group, which entered Yuen Long MTR station to attack black-clad protesters returning from demonstration

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Jacky Ho leaving court in 2022. The mob attack at Yuen Long MTR station is viewed as a tipping point in the 2019 anti-government protests. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Published: 5:04pm, 5 Apr 2024Updated: 6:50pm, 5 Apr 2024

A Hong Kong court has convicted an accountant of rioting at Yuen Long MTR station during the anti-government protests, the first verdict passed down in a case involving a person not part of a stick-wielding white-clad mob at the scene on July 21, 2019.

District Court Judge Clement Lee Hing-nin on Friday convicted Jacky Ho Tsan-kei, 43, of one count of rioting, saying he had claimed his actions were in self-defence and a bid to prevent crime when in fact Ho teamed up with black-clad protesters to fight the white-shirted group at the railway station.

“He is no different from the white-shirted individuals. He is one of the rioters who participated in a crime,” Lee said.

Ho was remanded in custody, with a mitigation hearing set for Wednesday next week.

Rioting is punishable by up to seven years in jail at the District Court.

The verdict is the first to be handed down in a case for a person unaffiliated with the white-clad group involved in the mob attack, viewed as a tipping point of that year’s anti-government protests.