Grebbish leader says the four were not present at the Mong Kok riot and only wanted to encourage an environmentally friendly lifestyle
PEACE.CHIU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 12 February, 2016, 8:06pm
UPDATED : Friday, 12 February, 2016, 8:28pm
Yuen Long district councillor To Ka-lun hands in his “offensive weapons” to police. Photo: Edward Wong
An environmental group has urged police to release four of its members arrested on Thursday for possession of offensive weapons, claiming there had been a misunderstanding and they had collected the items to recycle.
Three members of a group called Grebbish were arrested in a unit in an industrial building in Kwai Chung, where police seized 18 knives, metal rods, wooden sticks, hammers, a toy gun, and gloves and chemicals, which police said could make “lethal weapons” given the right mix.
Officers arrested another man in relation to the case later on Thursday night.
The police said on Thursday they were investigating if the arrested people had taken part in the Mong Kok riot on Monday. Sixty-five people have been arrested and 40 charged.
Speaking in front of Kwai Chung police station on Friday, Celia Lau, a spokeswoman for Grebbish, said the members were not present during the riot and the arrests were a “misunderstanding” and “misjudgment”.
Lau said the items were stockpiled in the unit – rented by one of the members – to be reused or turned into handmade soaps and pesticides.
When asked to explain the knives and metal rods found in the storeroom, Lau said the group did not keep a close track of what they had accumulated and just wanted to gather as many items as possible to encourage an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
She said the knives were among unwanted kitchen items collected during home removals. The group also demonstrated how to make a solution – with chilli, water and sugar – it said could be used as a pesticide, and soap from sodium hydroxide, both chemicals seized by police. The chemical is commonly used to make soap, but sodium hydroxide solutions can cause chemical burns.
Lau questioned why police had made the link to the riot as she did not spot any of the seized items in footage of the unrest. She said that besides the seized goods, many other items were stored in the unit, such as clothes and toys.
Set up in 2014, Grebbish has been stockpiling items to redistribute for more than a year, according to another member. The items are sorted and photos are posted on its Facebook page. Anyone interested can collect them from the storeroom.
While the group was addressing the media, Yuen Long district councillor To Ka-lun brought a number of items from his home, including knives and a bottle of chilli solution, and took them to the police station as “offensive weapons”. He said that after hearing what Superintendent Chow Kwong-chung of New Territories South Regional headquarters had said about the arrests on Thursday, he was “unsettled” as he owned similar items.
Police dismissed him and told him to contact Chow, To said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1912435/hong-kong-police-urged-release-environmentalists-after
