Elderly activist ‘Grandpa Chan’ has case to answer over unauthorised banner display at Hong Kong’s Lion Rock
Hong Kong Free Press
An elderly activist accused of displaying banners without a permit at a Hong Kong landmark has a case to answer, a court has ruled.
Chan Ki-kau, 76, appeared before Magistrate Kestrel Lam at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Monday morning. He is accused of violating the Country Parks and Special Areas Regulations over displaying a pair of Chinese-language banners atop Lion Rock on September 28, 2023.
Better known as “Grandpa Chan,” the activist held two scrolls with a Chinese couplet penned by writer Lu Xun on that day. The banners read: “Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers. Head bowed like a willing ox, I serve the children.”
The prosecution relied on videos and images of Chan holding up three sets of banners by The Epoch Times, a newspaper linked to a spiritual group banned in China. In addition to the Lu Xun couplet, Chan also had in his possession two other couplets, the court heard.
No illegal content
The couplets were seized from Chan’s Tai Po home in a police search a week after his ascent last September. A police officer who searched Chan on the hilltop testified on Monday that he let the defendant go after a verbal warning, while another found that the couplets had no illegal content.
One officer, Chan Hon-sum, said he intercepted Chan Ki-kau on Lion Rock last September, confirming with the court that he searched the activist’s backpack and found three couplets.
After finding that the couplets contained no illegal content, he ordered the septuagenarian to put them away. Under cross-examination, officer Chan confirmed that the couplets were not in violation of the national security law.
He also confirmed that the defendant had said under police caution that he only wanted to take a photo with the banners. Asked if he saw Chan Ki-kau hold up the banners during his patrol, the officer said he did not.
Police sergeant Ng Man-lok said that he told the defendant not to display the banners, or risk breaking the law. But Ng did not specify which law he was referring to, he told defence counsel Jeffrey Tam. Like officer Chan, Ng told the court that he did not see the defendant hold up the banners.
Both police officers said they did not notice any signs on the hill about rules for displaying banners under the Country Parks and Special Areas Regulations.
A field officer at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, Sin Wai-pun, testified that the department did not receive any applications from Chan Ki-kau to display banners.
Sin also said that the AFCD did not have publicly available guidelines regarding applications for displaying banners, nor did it have internal guidelines on deciding what banners the department would approve.
Park regulations state that visitors cannot display signs, notices, posters, banners or advertisements in a country park without permission from authorities. Offenders face a maximum penalty of a HK$2,000 fine and three months in jail.
Case to answer
Magistrate Lam decided that Chan Ki-kau had a case to answer and adjourned closing arguments to October 30. Tam told the court that his client would not testify and that he would not call defence witnesses.
Tam on Monday said he intended to dispute whether Chan Ki-kau’s actions had actually amounted to “displaying” the banners under law, or if he was simply taking a photo with the couplets. He also said he would make submissions on constitutional grounds.
The 76-year-old Chan Ki-kau was known for his presence on the front line of demonstrations during the protests and unrest in 2019, urging calm as protesters faced off against police officers. He also took part in a hunger strike during the early days of the movement.
Last January, the activist was ordered to pay around HK$510,000 to the Department of Justice after his application to launch a legal bid against the police over their display of identification during the 2019 protests was dismissed by a court.
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