11 Cleared Of Illegal Assembly At Tai Po

Eleven people have been acquitted of illegal assembly at the Tai Po Market MTR station two years ago, after a magistrate said surveillance footage submitted by prosecutors as evidence wasn’t clear enough to identify the defendants.

The West Kowloon Court heard on Friday that on the night of September 7, 2019, people had gathered outside the station and some protesters had carried out illegal acts such as damaging the station's turnstiles.

Prosecutors earlier submitted as evidence CCTV footage taken at the station, alleging that the 11 defendants, aged 15 to 49, were at the scene.

Magistrate Veronica Heung said the court could only rely on the surveillance footage when deciding on the case, as no one had witnessed when the defendants arrived or what they did at the scene.

But she said the quality of the surveillance footage was poor, with colours distorted and some images even pixelated, adding that the videos didn't clearly show people's faces.

The magistrate said even though the defendants had acted suspiciously on the night, but prosecutors had been unable to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.