Lawmakers and district councillors of the New People’s Party have reported a fellow lawmaker’s flag-flipping protest to the Department of Justice and urged them to prosecute.
The pro-Beijing party’s lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, district councillors Judy Chan Ka-pui and Joey Lee Man-lung, along with several members of the public, appeared at the Prosecutions Division of the department on Thursday.
Localist lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai of Civic Passion turned Chinese and Hong Kong flags on the desks of pro-Beijing camp lawmakers upside down twice during a meeting of the Legislative Council on Wednesday.
Cheng did so in protest of the camp’s walk-out, which prevented three lawmakers from retaking their oaths to assume office. He was ordered by the LegCo president to leave the chamber for improper conduct.
In response, Ip wrote a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, senior counsel Keith Yeung Kar-hung, about the incident. In the letter, Ip said Cheng’s action may have violated the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance, therefore she urged the Department of Justice to prosecute.
The ordinance states that any person that desecrates the flags or emblem by publicly and wilfully burning, mutilating, scrawling on, defiling or trampling on them is committing an offence, and is liable upon conviction to a fine and to imprisonment for three years.
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Edward Lau Kwok-fan also reported Cheng to the police and urged them to investigate and prosecute in accordance with the law.
Lau said he cannot tolerate the incident as a Chinese person and as a lawmaker.
