Hong Kong prosecutors lose final bid to go after activist cleared over sandwich thrown at former leader CY Leung
- Avery Ng says the case shows how much money authorities are willing to spend to quash dissent, adding that he will come up with something ‘more innovative’ in future
Hong Kong's prosecutors lost their final bid on Friday to convict an activist of assault after he threw a sandwich at former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying.
It took about 15 minutes for the Court of Final Appeal to come to a decision on not granting the Department of Justice permission to pursue Avery Ng Man-yuen, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, after one judge cast doubt on the rarity of the case.
He was convicted of assaulting policeman Lau Wing-kwan because Leung had dodged the sandwich and it hit the officer instead.
The incident took place on September 4 in 2016, the day of the Legislative Council elections. Ng bought two sandwiches before heading to a polling station in Central, where Leung was.
He said one was for his breakfast, and hurled the other sandwich at Leung as a reminder that the elderly were struggling to even afford a meal.
But the appeal court cleared his name, saying that prosecutors had selected the wrong victim, which should have been Leung. The prosecutors therefore lodged a final appeal.