Student Leader Arrested Again Over Laser Pointers

Baptist University student union leader Keith Fong was arrested on Wednesday morning, with police once again accusing him of possessing offensive weapons by carrying laser pointers.

The force said the 22-year-old is also suspected of perverting the course of justice and resisting a public officer in connection with a purchase of 10 laser pointers in Sham Shui Po in August last year.

Senior superintendent Ho Chun-tung of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau claimed Fong had tried to resist arrest and had run away when stopped by the police.

He also accused Fong of resetting his mobile phone and deleting all records related to the case despite being asked by officers not to use the device.

Ho also dismissed a suggestion that the laser pointers could have been meant for stargazing, saying the ones Fong allegedly possessed were designed for “industrial or military purposes”.

“Normally, those laser devices used for stargazing, they emit green beams. And those we seized... they emitted blue beams. So we think they are not intended for stargazing purposes,” he said.

Ho said the acting student union head would appear before West Kowloon Magistracy next Tuesday.

In a statement, the Baptist University students' union accused "the regime" of arresting activists and dissidents at will since the implementation of the national security law, and of sending a chilling effect across Hong Kong.

Fong was arrested twice last year during the anti-government protests - once for the alleged laser pointer "incident".

The following month, he was also arrested on suspicion of theft after picking up a lost wallet. The wallet was said to contain an Octopus card which, unsurprisingly, did not belong to him.

Fong was later released unconditionally.

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