HKU Council member accused of ‘dive’ unsure whether he was pushed or kicked

University of Hong Kong Council member Dr Lo Chung-mau, who was hospitalised following Tuesday’s protest on campus, said he is unsure why he fell down, adding that he will not take legal action in regards to the incident.

According to fellow council member Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, Lo said that he had been shoved to the ground as he tried to exit the room on Tuesday evening following the incident. Lo himself also told local broadcaster DBC that he had been “kicked and injured”.

Lo called the protesters “lawless” as he waited in a wheelchair to seek medical attention. Lo said he felt ashamed of students who tried to prevent him from going to hospital and threw water bottles at him as he was taken to an ambulance.

However, Lo told Commercial Radio on Thursday that he never said he was pushed by a student, and could not recall how he was injured. He said that he felt pain in his right knee because it was hit by an unknown object, and added that his right knee was prone to injury after being fractured in an accident two years prior.

Lo said that people blocked medical staff from sending him to hospital and threw water bottles at him in the parking lot.

Lo was discharged from hospital on Thursday afternoon. He was seen leaving on his own with the aid of a walking stick. Lo’s doctor said that there are signs of abrasions, bruising and swelling on Lo’s knee. The doctor said that there was likely some sort of collision, but it is not possible to determine what object Lo collided with.

Police have begun investigating the incident, which has been categorised an “assault claim” and “common assault”. A police spokesperson said that 12 emergency calls related to HKU were made after 4:00pm on Tuesday.

According to Stand News, following his discharge from hospital, Lo said that he did not call the police on Tuesday night. However, someone else called the police and Lo said that he “was a relatively important witness, hence the police took my statement.”

A report on Tuesday evening by TVB cited police sources saying that Lo called the police. The Criminal Investigation Department took Lo’s statement on Wednesday.

He declined to comment on the students’ decision to force their way into the meeting, and stressed the importance of moving forward.

On Tuesday, some 50 students disrupted the meeting of the governing body of HKU in protest against their decision to uphold the deferral of pro-democracy scholar Johannes Chan’s appointment as pro-vice chancellor. During the commotion, Lo and another council member fell ill and asked for medical treatment.

However, footage later emerged on social media contradicting Lo’s earlier claim of being pushed by students, prompting netizens to create memes to mock the questionable collapse.

Asked what he thought of the accusations and memes that suggest he had faked the collapse, Lo said that he was not upset with the accusers, and that people who doubted him would do so regardless of what he said.

Pro-establishment newspapers have compared the students’ actions to those of the paramilitary “Red Guards” who supported Mao Zedong during China’s Cultural Revolution. The Education Bureau and pro-Beijing politicians have also condemned the students.

Correction: A previous version of this article said Lo called the police on Tuesday evening, however the claim was not true.

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