Occupy protester and Civic Party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu day has been charged with assaulting and obstructing 15 police officers, none of whom are the seven officers who allegedly beat him last October during the pro-democracy Occupy protests.
Tsang, who is due to appear at the Eastern Magistrates’ Court on October 19, was accused of assaulting 11 police officers by pouring water onto them. Tsang was said to have splashed liquid onto officers on Lung Wo Road from the embankment of the underpass, after which he was arrested. He apparently then resisted arrest by four officers. Tsang was notified of the charges on Thursday morning and arrived at the police station for arrest “by appointment” on the same day.
Meanwhile, the seven officers who were said to have beaten Tsang up were also charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent on Thursday and have been publicly named. The group, which includes a chief inspector, a senior inspector and five junior officers, were released on bail after reporting to the police station. One of the officers, Chan Siu-tan, who was accused of assaulting Tsang at the police station, was also charged with common assault.
All of the seven officers will appear in court on the same day Tsang faces charges against the 15 other officers. Both incidents took place on October 15, 2014, exactly a year from when they were charged.
“I want to say that today’s charges and arrangement are very ridiculous… for a normal charge, the defendant would receive an allegation based on a police investigation, or brief facts of the case… the police has provided neither of these things to me today in charging me,” Tsang told RTHK.
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen, however, said that the decision was made on the advice of a Queen’s Counsel, whom the Department of Justice had been consulting with. “We believe that the two cases should be handled in the fairest possible way, and that’s why we made arrangements for Mr Tsang and also the seven police officers to be charged on the same day, this is today… it would be beneficial for both of them to be appearing before the same court on the same day,” he said.
“I don’t think there is any delay,” he also said, in response to media inquiries on why it took such a long period of time to charge the seven officers.
A year ago, footage appeared to show seven officers kicking and punching Tsang in front of a wall near the government headquarters in Tamar, Admiralty. On the anniversary night this week, around 100 people rallied at the “dark corner” where the incident was said to have happened to protest police violence.
