Councillors Plead Not Guilty In Gathering Ban Case

Five Central and Western district councillors have pleaded not guilty to violating the government’s gathering ban in connection with a meeting they held outside the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Sports Centre last year.

Prosecutors told Eastern Magistracy that the chairwoman of the Central and Western District Council, Cheng Lai-king, had held a meeting with Fergus Leung, Sam Yip, Jordan Pang and Napo Wong outside the sports venue on August 7, 2020.

The councillors were unhappy with the government’s decision to set up a temporary, large-scale laboratory inside the centre to facilitate a universal Covid-19 testing scheme, saying authorities never consulted the council on the matter.

The prosecution said the five had breached the government’s ban on gatherings of more than two people without reasonable excuse, adding that eight witnesses – all of them police officers – will testify in court.

A pre-trial hearing is slated for April 23.