Hundreds of Hongkongers gathered outside the Tsim Sha Tsui space museum on Wednesday evening to create their own “laser show” to coincide with the nightly light show organised with by the Tourism Board.
The gathering was a response to the arrest of Baptist University Student Union head Keith Fong on Tuesday night.
Fong was arrested in Sham Shui Po after several off-duty police officers said they saw him purchasing ten laser pointers.
Hundreds of Hongkongers gathered to create their own “laser show” in Tsim Sha Tsui after a student was arrested for possessing offensive weapons – 10 laser pens. https://t.co/J0ySsAY1qq #hongkongprotests #china #antiELAB #hongkong pic.twitter.com/EVvI65awsj
— Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) August 7, 2019
Police said he was found to be in suspicion of possessing offensive weapons.
That evening, hundreds besieged the local police station as officers fired tear gas to disperse them.
On Wednesday, a crowd of over a thousand people shone lasers at the harbourfront, amid cheers and chants of “Reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our time.”
They’ve even got transparencies and now they’re doing hand shadow shows of dogs (police) chasing down and biting people! Remember when protests were fun?! pic.twitter.com/aMlt8O6lc9
— Ryan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤 (@rhokilpatrick) August 7, 2019
“I’m so angry, the student was just buying (laser) pens. How can the police arrest him without other evidence or information?” a 28-year-old designer surnamed Lai told news agency AFP. “We are doing this to tell others that possessing a pen doesn’t mean having an offensive weapon, it has other purposes.”
The festivities continued past midnight with the crowd partaking in a dance party, as they sang songs, performed for each other and indulged in a brief water fight.
Laser pointers have been used by anti-extradition law protesters to hinder police officers on the front lines of demonstrations.
Ta Kung Po didn’t burn #antiELAB #ExtraditionLaw #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/UtecfqwMuA
— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) August 7, 2019
The famous Space Museum’s 3D Dome Movie Show from the other perspective. Human creativity and humour have no boundary. 😂😂 #antiELAB #ExtraditionLaw pic.twitter.com/RRYvcgEX1C
— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) August 7, 2019
After police sought to demonstrate during a press conference that the laser pens can burn paper, some of those gathered at the Space Museum questioned why nearby trees were not bursting into flames after they activated their laser pens.
