Man who threw egg at John Tsang finishes jail term, vows to keep fighting for Hong Kong's poor

A pro-democracy activist who threw eggs at Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah at a political forum in North Point vowed to continue demonstrating on behalf of the underprivileged after he finished a three-week jail term yesterday.

Derek Chan Tak-cheung, secretary general of the radical League of Social Democrats who was released from prison in Tong Fuk, also said Tsang was shameless to joke about the incident.

During his trial last year, Chan said eggs represented people who fought against the government. He quoted Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami: "Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."

Tsang has treated the incident with humour, joking at a previous hearing that he apparently foresaw the incident as he didn't wear a suit that day. This month he incorporated the egg versus wall metaphor into a comic speech at the Journalists' Association dinner that cited Humpty Dumpty from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Chan said the incident would not deter him from standing up to the government in future. The league continues to push for a universal retirement scheme.

"I met old people in jail who had committed petty crimes to get by, such as stealing minor stuff at the supermarket," he said.