Magistrate calls act of splashing foul-smelling liquid a great insult to innocent officers
JASMINE.SIU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 30 May, 2016, 5:56pm
Ken Tsang was surrounded by supporters brandishing yellow umbrellas. Photo: Felix Wong
Activist Ken Tsang Kin-chiu was jailed for five weeks by the Kowloon City Court on Monday for causing what the magistrate called a great insult to innocent police officers by splashing a foul-smelling liquid on them during an Occupy protest in October 2014.
But he was soon freed on HK$300 cash bail after his counsel David Ma indicated that he would appeal.
The sentence was greeted by an uproar in the public gallery, with many booing and shouting “Justice is dead” as soon as the magistrate began retreating to his chambers.
Activist Ken Tsang convicted of assaulting police during Occupy protests
Tsang, 40, was convicted last Thursday of one count of police assault and two of resisting arrest in Admiralty on October 15, 2014.
His sentence came ahead of his testimony at this Wednesday’s District Court trial of seven police officers, who were accused of beating up Tsang on the same night.
Principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen was told that the social worker splashed an unknown liquid that smelled like urine on 11 police officers before he resisted arrest by two others that night.
He said imprisonment was “absolutely appropriate” and the sole sentencing option.
Law compared the degree of insult and provocation invoked by the act of splashing liquid to spitting in the officers’ faces, and said Tsang’s act turned innocent officers into scapegoats for his venting behaviour.
“The defendant on one hand was angry at police for losing restraint,” the magistrate said. “On the other hand, he had similarly lost restraint in splashing an unknown liquid and causing harm to innocent police offices ... It sounds ironic.”
Law also pointed out that Tsang showed no remorse, before he concluded that the potential loss of his social worker registration was not a mitigating factor.
Assaulting police and resisting arrest are both punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, under the Offences Against the Person Ordinance.
Hong Kong policemen charged in Ken Tsang Occupy beating to plead not guilty
Tsang was jailed five weeks for assaulting police and three weeks for each count of resisting arrest, all to be served concurrently.
The afternoon hearing was attended by a full house in the public gallery, including Civic Party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, vice-chairwoman Tanya Chan and lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, who were there to support their party member.
Many also gathered at the court building entrance an hour before the scheduled hearing, with dozens queuing up to sign a placard showing their support for Tsang.
The Hong Kong Social Workers’ General Union invited members to share experiences of social workers’ participation in political movements.
But attention was instead drawn to a shouting match that erupted after a man in sunglasses began calling out with the help of a microphone: “The many people you’ve harmed – how could you be a social worker?”
He continued: “Why do you guys always lead the breach of law?”
Meanwhile, Tsang’s supporters brandished yellow umbrellas and retorted: “Support Tsang Kin-chiu, support Tsang Kin-chiu.”
The man left the court area about five minutes later, under the escort of a handful of police officers and a pack of three dozen journalists.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1959354/supporters-boo-court-jails-activist-ken-tsang-five-weeks
