HKU Students Cleared Of Blocking Roads

Eastern Court has acquitted two University of Hong Kong students of obstructing roads near their campus when anti-government protesters staged a citywide strike last November.

The prosecution had alleged that Joyce Lo, 20, and Lee Wing-sum, 21, had used objects such as traffic cones and rubbish bins to block sections of Pok Fu Lam Road near the university on the morning of November 11.

Magistrate Stephanie Tsui said the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the two defendants were among those blocking the road at the scene.

She noted that police officers who testified said protesters had dispersed when the police arrived, and officers had lost sight of the demonstrators when they gave chase.

One officer admitted in court that he could not identify the pair and that the duo were stopped on a footbridge nearby, not at the scene.

The magistrate ordered the prosecution to pay legal costs.

The court earlier handed two other students involved in the case HK$1,000 bind-over orders, requiring them to maintain good behaviour for 12 months.