A Hong Kong student charged with loitering at a chain store linked to the city’s largest national security case has said he was “just playing around.”
The student, who was 14 when he was arrested last year, is among five people standing trial after pleading not guilty to a charge of “loitering causing concern.” The trial began on Tuesday and is expected to take four days.
The case relates to incidents last February, when the defendants were accused of shouting and harassing customers at the Mong Kok branch of AbouThai, a retail chain store owned by Mike Lam.
The incidents took place days after reports that Lam, who was charged in the high-profile national security trial involving 47 democrats alongside pro-democracy activists and ex-lawmakers, would testify against his co-defendants. The case revolves around unofficial primaries in 2020, held to try and help the city’s pro-democracy win a controlling majority in the legislature in the later-postponed Legislative Council elections.
At the time, online commenters said Lam had betrayed the movement and called for boycotts of AbouThai, the chain store Lam owned and the shops of which had been used as polling stations during the unofficial primaries.
At the opening of the trial on Tuesday, the two underage defendants, who were not named, and Ip Ka-kin, Ip Tsz-kin and Tsang Wai-shing appeared before magistrate Patrick Tsang at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts.
The court played a video interview of the youngest defendant, according to Ming Pao. The defendant said in the interview that he met Tsang, a taxi driver who is known for making YouTube clips under the name “Brave Dog,” on Instagram. He had known Tsang for around a month when he met up with him and the other defendants on February 3 last year to film a “funny video” at AbouThai in Mong Kok, he said, adding that he was “accompanying them” and “just playing around.”
He admitted to yelling at the shop’s staff and making derogatory comments about Lam.
The then-14-year-old then went with his friend to the same AbouThai store two days later, he said in the interview. He said he intended to make another video to get views, but in the end he did not share it on social media.
He added in the interview that he was aware that there was a “common view” about Lam in society and that he wanted to take part in “hating this person.”
When asked by police why he hated Lam, he said he did not know.
The charge of loitering causing concern is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.
The 47 democrats trial ended last December after 118 days. A judge said at its closing that there were “no guarantees” of when the verdict was expected.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
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