Hong Kong ex-opposition lawmaker has case to answer over allegedly instigating mob violence at Yuen Long MTR station in 2019
- Lam Cheuk-ting and 46 others were injured by white-shirted men armed with rods at MTR station on July 21 that year
- Prosecutors have maintained attack was result of ‘repeated provocation’ by black-clad group gathering at station, including Lam
A Hong Kong court has found former opposition lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting has a case to answer over allegedly instigating mob violence at a railway station during the 2019 anti-government protests.
The District Court decided on Thursday that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to accuse Lam Cheuk-ting of rioting on July 21 that year. Lam and 46 others were injured by a group of white-shirted men armed with rods at Yuen Long MTR station, in an attack viewed as the tipping point of the protests arising from a now-withdrawn extradition bill.
The court reached a similar conclusion regarding the riot allegations against Lam’s co-defendants: Yu Ka-ho, Jason Chan Wing-hei, Yip Kam-sing, Kwong Ho-lam, Wan Chung-ming and Marco Yeung Long.
Prosecutors have maintained the attack was the result of “repeated provocation” by a black-clad group gathering at the station, including Lam, a Democratic Party lawmaker at the time.
They relied on the testimony of a female bystander, who claimed the men in white went after their rivals only after they “could no longer bear” the latter’s verbal abuse.