Billy Fung Jing-en, the former student union president at the University of Hong Kong, was arrested on suspicion of criminal intimidation, criminal damage, and forcible entry on Wednesday night. Fung said outside the Western police station that he has posted bail for HK$10,000 and will appear in court on Friday morning.
HKU students, including current student union president Althea Suen and former president Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok, arrived at the police station but were denied entry for security reasons, according to local media.
‘Mob rule’
Fung’s arrest follows a chaotic HKU governing council meeting in January when students surrounded the first council meeting chaired by Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, whose appointment stirred controversy.
Members were unable to leave the Sassoon road campus in Pok Fu Lam for four hours after the meeting ended as students called for the governing body to respond to four demands to reform its structure. Prior to the protest, the students also held a week-long class boycott.
See also: HKFP Interview: HKU ‘whistleblower’ Billy Fung on the HKU Council, Student Union, HKFS and more
At the time, Fung said that it was hard to avoid chaotic episodes, as the Council did not respond to their demands. “The students’ actions were very reasonable – there were more police on the scene than students, and I have seen an officer pointing a pepper spray canister at students,” he said at the time.
However, the president and vice-chancellor of HKU, Peter Mathieson, called the students’ actions “mob rule” and “totally unnecessary.” He later said that he handed footage of the protest to police to help with their investigation.
Others sought by police
Fung said to reporters outside the Western Police Station after he was released on bail on Wednesday night that “there may be other classmates who face such problems and how to help them is the most important thing to me [right now].”
Former student union vice-president Colman Li Fung-kei was also sought by the police to help with investigations. Li posted on Facebook that he was abroad at the moment and has asked his lawyer to handle the matter.
HKFP has contacted the police for comment.
