Rival Protesters Gather Over Ted Hui Phone Scandal

Dozens of people protested outside the Legislative Council on Friday demanding Ted Hui resign as a lawmaker over an incident in Legco when he grabbed the phone of a government official.

The demonstrators, who were joined by DAB chairwoman Starry Lee and Alice Mak from the Federation of Trade Unions, said Hui had bullied the vulnerable and insulted women.

They also accused the now-suspended Democratic Party councillor of breaking the law inside the Legco building with his actions on Tuesday.

Later in the day, around 30 people held a demonstration outside Civic Square to support the lawmaker. Demosisto's Joshua Wong and former legislator Leung Kwok-hung were among them.

Katty Law from the Central and Western Concern Group, who organised the show of support, told RTHK's Joanne Wong that people have been focusing on the wrong things.

"The root of the problem is the government's excessive surveillance of legislators in the Legislative Council, using public resources, the civil servants, to follow them around and trying, maybe, to affect the operations of the Legislative Council," Law said.

Hui had said he snatched the mobile phone and then searched through it because he suspected the government of unlawfully collecting personal information on lawmakers. He said he would be filing a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner regarding the data he found on the phone.