Protesters sit behind a barricade in Mong Kok. A judge has barred 17 arrested protesters from the area after granting them bail. Photo: HKEJ
17 protesters granted bail but banned from Mong Kok
Seventeen people arrested in Tuesday’s clearing of a protest camp in Mong Kok are free on bail but they are not allowed to return to the area.
The 12 men and five women aged 19 to 69 were granted bail ranging from HK$100 to HK$500 by a magistrates’ court.
However, they are barred from the former protest site in Mong Kok until their next court appearance on Jan. 14, Apple Daily reported Thursday.
The ban covers Mong Kok Road and Dundas Street, as well as sections between Fa Yuen Street and Shanghai Street.
The defendants were charged with obstruction and assault but the judge did not require them to enter evidence.
Meanwhile, a 14-year-old student was brought to juvenile court on Wednesday but was not charged.
Prosecutors applied for guardianship of the minor on the ground of parental negligence.
The judge put the boy under supervision by his parents until his next court date on Jan. 12.
Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong, who is also a barrister, said the prosecutors’ guardianship application was “very strange”, given the boy was not at risk of being harmed by his own parents.
Solicitor Daniel Wong said the application did not make sense.
And Eva Chan, convenor of Parents Concern Group, said it was an attempt by the prosecutors to force parents to forbid their children from joining any protests.
– Contact us at english@hkej.com
TL/AC/RA
