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Sum Lok-kei

Jasmine Siu

A Hong Kong student union leader has been released unconditionally after he was arrested on what his group called “fabricated charges” during the early hours of Tuesday.
Keith Fong Chung-yin, president of the union at Baptist University, was one of 25 people rounded up across the city on the same morning, along with others held over illegal assemblies.
A total of 1,140 people have been arrested since extradition bill protests, which have since morphed into a wider anti-government movement, started in June.
Fong was taken away by officers in Prince Edward at about 12.40am.
Tear gas fired in Mong Kok as angry protesters target police station
As a group of officers ushered him to a police vehicle, Fong told reporters he was arrested over a theft allegation. In a statement on Tuesday morning, the union linked Fong’s arrest to a wallet he found at a student rally at Chinese University on Monday.
“Fong had contacted the owner via WhatsApp and email and had scheduled to return it on Wednesday,” the union said, adding that the wallet’s owner was also a Baptist University student.
An estimated 30,000 students attended the rally, which kicked off a two-week class boycott at 11 higher education institutions.




The union provided a screenshot of email correspondence between Fong and the owner of the wallet.
“I am the president of [the student union]. We found your coin wallet during the rally,” Fong wrote.
The union said Fong was having a meal at the time of his arrest, and that police had “fabricated charges” against him, linking it to his carrying someone else’s wallet.
It was not Fong’s first arrest. Last month, he was held for possessing 10 laser pointers in Sham Shui Po, but was released without charge.
After spending a short time at a police station in Mong Kok on Tuesday, he was transferred to hospital as he was unwell, the union added.
The union strongly condemns the police’s abusive arrest, which no doubt is to create white terror
Baptist University student union
“The union strongly condemns the police’s abusive arrest, which no doubt is to create white terror,” it said.
Police later said Fong had been released unconditionally after they located the owner of the wallet.
Explaining the arrest, Mong Kok district commander Bradley Wright said: “Police gave the person every opportunity … to explain why he was in possession of that property, but he was unable to do so.”
Wright said police eventually located the owner of the wallet and let Fong go.
Separately, Ivan Lam Long-yin, who chairs pro-democracy party Demosisto, was arrested on Tuesday at the airport upon returning to the city from Taiwan. He appeared at Eastern Magistrates’ Court in the afternoon.
Three days earlier two of his party colleagues, Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Agnes Chow Ting, were arrested and charged over a siege of the police headquarters on June 21.
Wong was charged with three charges of organising, inciting and taking part in an illegal assembly, while Chow was charged with inciting and taking part in the same illegal assembly.

Lam, who was out of town at the time, faces a single incitement charge.
The 25-year-old was not required to enter a plea on his first court appearance before Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai at Eastern Court on Tuesday afternoon.
He was released on HK$10,000 bail with the condition that he remain in Hong Kong, reside in his reported address, obey a curfew from 8pm to 7am, report to police twice a week and return to the same court with his co-defendants on November 8.
All three defendants have been barred from setting foot in the vicinity of the police headquarters.
Outside court, Lam revealed that he only learned about his prosecution through his party colleagues and news reports while he was travelling in Taiwan.
Beside him was party vice-chairman Isaac Cheng Ka-long, who was attacked on his way home on Monday night. Cheng said three men ambushed him outside his home and took turns to punch him. His injuries were examined in hospital and he reported the case to police.
He accused the government of trying to use a series of assaults and arrests to instil white terror.
“We must let the government know such fears cannot suppress our pursuit of democracy and freedom, but will only encourage it,” Cheng said. “The government has a responsibility to respond.”
Also held on Tuesday morning was Michael Mo Kwan-tai, who organised a protest in Yuen Long on July 27. According to another activist, Max Chung Kin-ping, Mo was arrested at home on suspicion of organising an illegal assembly and taken to a police station in Tai Po. Police later confirmed the arrest and charge.
Meanwhile, a fifth man among the 31 suspects arrested over an attack on passengers at Yuen Long railway station on July 21 and the early hours of July 22 faced two rioting charges at Fanling Court.
Prosecutor said Tang Wai-sum, 60, who operates a barbecue site in the town, was seen wearing a white and red floral shirt that night and allegedly chased after random targets while swinging a wooden rod at the station’s concourse and inside the mall.
Tang was released on HK$100,000 cash bail, but must not leave the city and has to report to police every day. He will appear in Fanling Court again on October 25 alongside four other men previously charged over the incident.
Additional reporting by Brian Wong


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Union cries foul over Keith Fong’s arrest, which he says was related to theft, claiming ‘fabricated charges’
Chairman of pro-democracy party also held, as well as march organiser, both over illegal assemblies



Union cries foul over Keith Fong’s arrest, which he says was related to theft, claiming ‘fabricated charges’. Chairman of pro-democracy party also held, as well as march organiser, both over illegal assemblies.


Hong Kong extradition bill