Policeman Says He Was Forced To Open Fire At Riot

A police officer who fired two warning shots into the air during the Mong Kok riot in 2016 told the High Court on Thursday that he had no choice but to do so because the protesters had "lost their minds".

Police Constable Wong Hing-wai was giving evidence at the rioting trial of Edward Leung, a former member of the pro-independence group Hong Kong Indigenous, as well as four others.

The officer said a colleague had fallen onto the ground and was not able to defend himself. Some other officers at the scene had drawn their batons but still failed to disperse the crowd.

Wong said he felt anxious and wanted to protect his colleagues. When asked by the defence whether he had thought about consulting his superiors before firing the warning shots, he said he was dealing with an emergency and there was no time to ask for instructions.

The defence also asked if he had thought about how the protesters might react to the gunshots. Wong said he was hoping they would “stop the assault and their acts of damaging society”.

The officer said that after he had fired the first shot, protesters took a few steps back but soon began charging again at the officer who had fallen to the ground. He described the people in the crowd as having “lost their minds”, and said they kept throwing things and hitting the officer lying on the ground.

Wong said he gave a verbal warning that he would shoot again, but that was ignored and he therefore decided to fire another shot. After that, the crowd began retreating and other officers were able to help the officer on the ground, Wong told the court.