The trial of Civic Party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, who allegedly assaulted police officers during the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy protests, has commenced at the Kowloon Magistrates’ Court. During the proceedings on Monday, the prosecution and defence disagreed over whether footage purporting to depict the incident should be submitted.
Tsang, 40, has been accused of assaulting police officers with liquid from the embankment of the underpass at Lung Wo Road during the Occupy protests in 2014. He is facing one count of assaulting police and four counts of resisting arrest and has denied all the charges. The trial is expected to last five days.
The prosecution, in its opening statement, said that four officers filmed Tsang pouring liquid onto the police from four different angles, Stand News reported. The court also heard that defunct broadcaster ATV had footage of Tsang resisting arrest.
The defence raised doubts over the source and authenticity of the ATV news footage the prosecution sought to submit, saying that the prosecution could not prove that it was the same person in the footage. The prosecution said that footage filmed by ATV and the police could substantiate each other, RTHK reported.
Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen also questioned whether or not the footage had been tampered with and asked the prosecution to demonstrate its authenticity.
Witness testifies
Prosecution witness Butt Wang-tat testified that, at 3:20am, he saw a man about ten-feet ahead of him, carrying a one-litre water bottle, looking as if he was about to throw something down on to Lung Wo Road, Ming Pao reported. Wang then yelled for the man to stop and when the man turned to try to hold him down, he did the same. Wang handed the man over to his co-workers.
In another ongoing court case, seven police officers are facing charges for allegedly kicking and punching Tsang in a “dark corner” in Tamar, Admiralty on the same day. They will stand trial this year and have pleaded not guilty.
