Man Cleared Of Unlawful Assembly Charge Over Protest

The West Kowloon Court on Monday acquitted a Chinese University student of an unlawful assembly charge related to a 2019 protest.

Handing down judgement, magistrate Jeffrey Sze said video clips provided to the court failed to show Cheng Ting-fung, who was 19 at the time, shouting slogans in Tuen Mun on November 10, 2019.

Sze also rejected evidence given by a police officer, who claimed to have observed the defendant for five minutes. The magistrate said the officer could only have done so for a maximum of three minutes based on the footage supplied to court.

Meanwhile, Sze fined the student HK$400 for failing to produce proof of identity at the scene.

Cheng had pleaded guilty to the charge, and told the court through his lawyer that while he had left his identity card at home, he did carry another travel document with him at the time.

The magistrate accepted that Cheng was negligent, adding that the offence had nothing to do with what was happening at the scene.