Hong Kong student sentenced to more than 2 years in jail for rioting on night of Tiananmen Square vigil

Tsang King-lun pleaded guilty at the District Court on Wednesday to rioting in Mong Kok on the night of June 4, 2020, when the 22-year-old was among a group of about 50 protesters involved in a stand-off with police on Argyle Street.

People had earlier gathered peacefully outside Langham Place shopping centre to hold candles or wave flashlights to mark the crackdown anniversary.

The court heard that tensions started rising at the scene from about 9pm, as those who gathered for the impromptu vigil dispersed.

Tsang, a student at the Hong Kong Maritime Service Training Institute, was seen hurling a traffic cone at a police officer during the disturbance, apparently trying to prevent the officer from apprehending a protester. Tsang was immediately subdued and arrested.

Defence counsel Fiona Nam Hoi-yan revealed in mitigation that Tsang’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder left him easily provoked. The student was initially a passer-by, but lost his sense of control and joined the disturbance after he was pepper-sprayed by mistake, the lawyer added.