A demonstration in Kwun Tong that was approved by the police in August of the previous year turned into a conflict between police and civilians. The police arrested many demonstrators when they dispersed.
One of them, a 23-year-old unemployed man, pleaded guilty to a crime of riot. The case was sentenced at West Kowloon Court today (28th). Deputy District Court Judge Xu Zhaoqiang said that “the arrest of the police came suddenly” that day. Use riot to describe it."
The defendant was arrested only 1 minute after the riot. Except for attacking the police with bamboo sticks, there was no evidence that he had committed other violent acts. He accepted that he was influenced by the social atmosphere and committed the crime without any thought. He was finally sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Defendant Xie Zhuohua (unemployed, 23 years old), admitted that on August 24, 2019, he had participated in a riot near Wai Yip Street in Kowloon Bay with an unknown person.
Xie was also charged with assaulting a police officer performing his duties on the same day and in the same place, but was allowed to file in court without prosecution.
Alleged that the riot in the case is not considered a large-scale defendant and non-leading role
Xu Guan quoted the facts of the case as saying that the day's parade was issued by the police with a notice of no objection, and it officially started at 1:30 pm. At first, the participants all proceeded in a peaceful and orderly manner.
By 2:30, a few people had erected roadblocks, and the police raised flags nearby to call for the people to leave, but they were ignored. During the period, a few demonstrators smashed bricks to the police.
By 4:38, the demonstrators had still not attacked or attacked the police.
Even the Speed Dragon team later rushed out from the street, "the scene became chaotic the next moment." One of the police officers approached the defendant while pursuing the suspect, and was attacked by the defendant with a bamboo stick. The defendant was immediately subdued.
About 1 minute later, some demonstrators started throwing gas and oil bombs. During the confrontation that lasted for about 2 hours, only scattered objects were thrown at the police.
Xu Guanxu quoted media clips saying that before the police took action, the scene "has not yet developed to be described as a riot," and also said that "the arrest of the police came suddenly." The riots involved occurred after the police officers acted.
The demonstrators were just clamoring before, hitting hard objects with sticks to make sounds, and throwing bricks from time to time but sparsely.
Xu Guan also pointed out that a notice of no objection was approved in advance for the parade, and there were a large number of participants, but the riots that occurred afterwards were not large-scale and did not cause additional impact on traffic, and there were no civilians and property casualties.
The defendant was arrested 1 minute after the riot. There is no evidence that he played a leading role in the incident, and there was no other violent behavior other than assaulting the police with bamboo sticks.
The unemployed man in the Kwun Tong parade and riot case admitted that he and others used bamboo sticks to attack the police and claimed to be affected by the atmosphere of the scene. Convicted 57 months for reprimanding riots for disregarding the safety of others
Alleged that the defendant's reflection on the case has affected his future and his family
Xu Guan continued that he was convinced that the defendant was affected by the social atmosphere and committed the crime at a moment's notice, which affected his future and his family afterwards. He has now reflected on his situation.
The final decision was to use 40 months as the starting point for sentencing. As the defendant pleaded guilty before the trial, only one-fourth of his sentence was deducted, and then he was deducted for 3 months because he had no record. The total sentence was 27 months.
Case Number: DCCC 205/2020
