Leung Kwok-hung says the government needs to explain why it considers the Mong Kok clashes as a riot. File photo: RTHK
League of Social Democrats lawmaker, Leung Kwok-hung, said on Friday that the government and the police should show evidence as to why the clashes that occurred in Mong Kok earlier this week have been classified as a riot, before slapping the serious charge of rioting on those who were arrested.
Leung, popularly known as Long Hair, pointed out that the clashes that happened in 1966 were only branded as a disturbance, and there was no reason why the ones in Mong Kok should be classified as a riot.
Disturbances erupted in March 1966 over an increase in the Star Ferry fare. Some 300 people were brought before the courts, and more than 250 of them received sentences of up to two years' imprisonment. The events at the time were blamed on long-standing social problems and discontent in Hong Kong.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1241767-20160212.htm
