appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Fiona Chow

Four young men have pleaded guilty to rioting during the police siege of a university at the height of the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong, with a defence lawyer saying in mitigation that one of them later developed post-traumatic stress disorder after being tortured in “KK Park” – a notorious scam compound in Myanmar.
The District Court on Monday heard guilty pleas from Cheung Chung-yiu, Cheung Chin-ming, Chan Chun-hei and Chan Yuen-ming, who were aged between 16 and 27 at the time of the November 2019 riots at Polytechnic University.
The four were among more than 1,300 protesters arrested in connection with the unrest inside and outside the campus. While at least 200 people were charged with rioting and sentenced before 2024, these defendants were rearrested in June that year and formally charged with one count of rioting.
According to the prosecution, Chan Yuen-ming wandered around the university campus and took several unidentified glass bottles from a laboratory during the incident.
Defence counsel Steven Kwan Man-wai told the court on Monday that the defendant, now 33, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after being tortured and detained in “KK Park”, a Chinese-run “fraud factory” on the Myanmar-Thailand border where thousands were held as forced labourers. He was released in 2022.
Kwan added that Chan Yuen-ming only stayed briefly on the campus, urging Judge Edmond Lee Chun-man to consider that imprisonment would have a harsher impact on him than on others.
In Chan Chun-hei’s case, prosecutors alleged that he was linked to the riot after his fingerprint was found on tape attached to one of the grenades at the scene.
His defence counsel said the defendant was now a 22-year-old family man who became a father last year.
“People change, and he changed a lot. He regrets what he did at the age of 16,” the counsel said in mitigation. “Today, he has a proper job, got married and has a young child.”
The lawyer said that Chan Chun-hei had turned his life around and had been working hard as a construction worker in recent years.
The court also heard that Cheung Chung-yiu, now 24, went on to study in the United Kingdom and was only arrested upon returning to Hong Kong. He had previously recorded a video with a priest urging young people not to follow in his footsteps.
Cheung Chin-ming, 30, told the court that he now owned a car detailing business and had deeply reflected on the mistakes he made in his youth.
The judge adjourned the sentencing to June 8 after hearing the pleas for mitigation. All four defendants were remanded in custody in the meantime.
The demonstrations in and around PolyU on November 18, 2019, were some of the most intense confrontations of the unrest, which was sparked by proposed extradition legislation that was later scrapped.

Protesters occupied PolyU’s campus in Hung Hom and confronted riot police, who attempted to arrest them en masse by sealing off the university.
Sympathisers staged several protests near the campus to distract police in an effort to help them escape. Police also arrested groups of people in Yau Ma Tei near the university.
In 2024, police said 213 of those arrested were convicted.
That year, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said there was no time limit for charging about 7,000 protesters arrested during the unrest, meaning prosecution would be brought once authorities gathered sufficient evidence.
He said it was “time-consuming” for police to review footage from surveillance cameras to identify those involved in the unrest and extract other relevant evidence, given the large number of people who “came out to riot” in 2019.
He stressed that offenders who left Hong Kong would be held accountable and arrested once they return to the city.
According to police data released in 2024, 10,279 people, aged 11 to 87, were arrested in connection with the 2019 protests. As of September that year, 2,974 had either gone through judicial proceedings or were still going through them.


Hong Kong court winds up Wang Fuk Court renovation consultant over debt

Hong Kong court terminates trial after suspect in deadly 1991 hold-up dies of cancer

‘I just need an answer’: widow haunted by husband’s shooting seeks inquest

Hong Kong district councillor remanded in custody after underage sex conviction

Hong Kong courts

4 plead guilty to rioting during 2019 PolyU siege in Hong Kong

The four defendants will be sentenced on June 8. Photo: Jelly Tse

The demonstrations in and around PolyU on November 18, 2019, were some of the most intense confrontations of the unrest. Photo: Winson Wong

Hong Kong court jails 8 for up to 4½ years for rioting during 2019 PolyU siege

A protester sets fire and vandalizes facilities at the Polytechnic University in Hung Hom on November 11, 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

A police water cannon truck attempts to disperse protesters at Polytechnic University in 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong protests: 6 jailed for up to 5 years, 3 months for rioting near Polytechnic University during 2019 unrest

The District Court judge has sentenced five men and one woman over a stand-off between protesters and police in November 2019. Photo: Winson Wong

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Cheung Chung-yiu, Cheung Chin-ming, Chan Chun-hei and Chan Yuen-ming were aged between 16 and 27 at the time of the November 2019 riots


Cheung Chung-yiu, Cheung Chin-ming, Chan Chun-hei and Chan Yuen-ming were aged between 16 and 27 at the time of the November 2019 riots.


Hong Kong protests

Britain

China

Myanmar

4 plead guilty to rioting during 2019 PolyU siege in Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Cheung Chung-yiu, Cheung Chin-ming, Chan Chun-hei and Chan Yuen-ming were aged between 16 and 27 at the time of the November 2019 riots

Cheung Chung-yiu, Cheung Chin-ming, Chan Chun-hei and Chan Yuen-ming were aged between 16 and 27 at the time of the November 2019 riots