Joshua Wong Supporter Acquitted Of Police Assault

A former university lecturer was on Thursday found not guilty of assaulting a police officer outside the High Court, on the day pro-democracy campaigners Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were jailed last August for unlawful assembly.

Wong Sum-lung was among a group of supporters of the three young activists who were waiting for the prison vehicle carrying the trio to leave the court. He admitted pushing a police sergeant once outside the building.

But Eastern Court magistrate Peter Hui noted in his ruling that video footage showed the defendant remained calm and quiet during the incident, while other people present were shouting slogans.

Hui said he couldn't be sure whether the defendant's pushing of the officer was an attempt to assault him, and he could have just been trying to protect himself when he was surrounded by police officers.

Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were jailed after the government appealed against the earlier non-custodial punishments they had been given over a protest in 2014. Those prison sentences have since been quashed.