My Arrest Was Retaliation For Lawsuit, Says Ted Hui

Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui says his arrest during a demonstration in Causeway Bay on Friday night was an act of revenge by the police, being as he is bringing a private prosecution against an officer who shot a protester last year.

Hui was one of dozens of people arrested during protests to mark the anniversary of the June 12 clashes last year in Admiralty, which came at the start of the city's current unrest.

TV footage showed officers grab Hui and he was later seen with his hands zip-tied behind his back. The legislator said he had been arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly.

"It was absurd. It was arbitrary and unlawful. Because I was just giving an interview, being asked questions by the media. Meanwhile, they pulled me away and arrested me," Hui told reporters on Saturday afternoon.

"So I deem it to be retaliation for my earlier lawsuit against the police, in the form of a private prosecution. I think it's very obvious, considering the time and the nature of the arrest last night and I condemn the police for such an arbitrary arrest."

On Thursday, a magistrate agreed to summon a policeman over the shooting of a 21-year-old student in Sai Wan Ho last November, in a case brought by Hui with money raised through crowdfunding.

Hui is also bringing a case against a taxi driver whose vehicle ploughed into a group of protesters last October in Sham Shui Po, and another case aims to force the police to reveal the chemical content of the tear gas they fire at protesters.