UpdateMong Kok riot charges against 10 Hongkongers, including activist Derek Lam, dropped due to lack of evidence
Prosecutors say defendants were at scene, but there was no proof they had disrupted social order
Ten people charged over February’s Mong Kok riot walked free on Thursday – including a prominent former member of suspended student activist group Scholarism – after prosecutors cited lack of evidence as the reason for withdrawing the allegations.
The charges were dropped after a review of the evidence against the 10 found insufficient grounds to prosecute them, deputy director of public prosecutions David Leung Cheuk-yin SC told Kowloon City Court.
Among them was former Scholarism member Derek Lam Shun-hin, who originally faced one count of rioting after being arrested at the airport on his way to Taiwan.
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After hearing from Leung, principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen told Lam he would allow the allegations to be withdrawn.
The sole underage defendant, a 15-year-old who faced one count of rioting, also had his charge withdrawn. His identity cannot be revealed due to a court order.
The other eight defendants – all but one charged with rioting – also no longer face prosecution.
They are Lai Man-tsun, Ho Siu-cheung, Chan Koon-kit, Wong Sai-kit, Mok Pak-hin, Cheung Chin-to, Stephen Ku Bok-him, the incoming chief editor of Undergrad, a student magazine at the University of Hong Kong, and Tam Hiu-tung, who faced one count of taking part in an unlawful assembly.