Ted Hui Unfit To Be A Legislator, Says Emily Lau

Democratic Party veteran Emily Lau said on Friday that party lawmaker Ted Hui's "abominable" behaviour in Legco this week, when he snatched a mobile phone from a government officer, shows he is unfit to be a legislator and should be thrown out of the party.

Hui was suspended by the party on Thursday night, shortly after he apologised for a second time for running off with the phone of a female Security Bureau officer two days before.

"I think what he did was so outrageous, so abominable. I cannot believe that a legislator could behave like that, or even a human being," Lau said.

"If you're walking in the street and you're holding your mobile phone, even a police officer has no right to come and snatch your phone. So how dare a Legco member snatch the phone from a government official in the Legco complex? This is so outrageous, so ridiculous," the former party chairwoman added.

"I think a person who behaves like that is unfit to be a legislator and definitely not fit to be a member of my party. Although I think he should go, I respect the party's procedures and I think they should do it, but do it expeditiously."

Lau's successor as chair of the party, Wu Chi-wai, said earlier that a three-member disciplinary committee is being set up to investigate Tuesday's phone-snatching.

He said the party would only decide whether to expel Hui once that investigation is completed.

"Until the disciplinary committee has its decision, Ted Hui is still our brother. But he has no right to represent the Democratic Party," Wu said.