Hong Kong opposition lawmaker granted bail after being charged with rioting over Yuen Long railway station attack
- Democratic Party’s Lam Cheuk-ting charged with rioting over incident inside MTR station on July 21 last year
- His colleague Ted Hui faces multiple charges in connection with July 6 protest
A Hong Kong opposition lawmaker was granted bail along with six co-defendants on Thursday after being charged in court over the Yuen Long railway station mob attack last year, a day after police said the escalation of violence was the result of two sides provoking each other.
Shortly after approving bail for legislator Lam Cheuk-ting, West Kowloon Court also released his Democratic Party colleague Ted Hui Chi-fung and two others on bail. Prosecutors had charged Hui and the pair over a separate rally in Tuen Mun.
Lam and Hui appeared on the ground floor of the court building after spending 36 hours in detention, as more than 100 supporters, dressed in black to condemn the arrests, cheered and chanted: “Shame on political prosecution.”
Lam, a strong critic of police’s slow reaction during the Yuen Long mob attack of July 21 in which he also suffered injuries, continued to lash out at authorities, including the city’s leader, police commissioner and secretary for justice.
“Not only did they not go after the perpetrators behind July 21 ... Instead, they came to arrest me and my friends,” he claimed, following his release.
