A Hong Kong man has been jailed for four years and one month over rioting and wounding others with intent during a mob attack in Yuen Long in 2019.
Tang Ka-man (in red frame) appears in a video captured by BBC News Chinese about the mob attacks in Yuen Long in July 2019. Photo: BBC News Chinese YouTube screenshot.
Tang Ka-man appeared at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday. He was found guilty last month after a trial.
The case relates to a violent incident in Yuen Long on July 21, 2019, when Hong Kong was in the midst of protests and unrest against a controversial extradition bill.
That night, dozens of men dressed in white – who were suspected to have links with organised crime – stormed the station and attacked passers-by. The incident marked a watershed moment during the protests, sparking widespread criticism of police over their response Officers were accused of turning a blind eye to the incident as hundreds of emergency calls went unanswered.
Handing down the sentence, Deputy district Judge Amy Chan said the white-shirted men had come prepared with wooden rods and other items, expecting that people in black – protesters returning home after a demonstration on Hong Kong Island – would pass through the station, The Witness reported.
Yuen Long MTR station on July 28, 2019. Photo: May James/HKFP.
Tang did not testify during his trial last month. The defence summoned a restaurant manager who gave evidence that Tang was at his eatery from 9pm to around 12.30am that night, and did not leave in between.
When delivering the verdict, Chan said that it could not be concluded that Tang never left, as the restaurant manager was not with Tang the entire time. The judge called the manager’s testimony unreliable.
She also accused Tang of deliberately changing his appearance when in court so it would be harder to identify him from footage of the incident that night. Tang had changed his hairstyle and worn glasses, Chan said.
The mob attack on July 21, 2019 in Yuen Long MTR station. Photo: Screenshot.
Those guilty of rioting face a maximum of 10 years in jail, although sentences delivered in the District Court cannot be longer than seven years.
Ninth white-shirt men conviction
Tang is the ninth white-shirted man to be convicted and jailed over rioting in Yuen Long on July 21, 2019.
Among the nine, the longest sentence handed down was seven years to Tang Wai-sum, the maximum at the District Court. Tang was said by a judge to have played a “directing role” in the incident.
Earlier in December, ex-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting and six others were found guilty of rioting during the incident. Lam testified that he had come to the station that night after hearing that suspected triad members planned to gather in Yuen Long to “protect their homeland,” and hoped to use his status as a lawmaker to pressure police to take action.
A protest in 2020 marking the one-year anniversary of the Yuen Long attacks. Photo: Jimmy Lam/United Social Press.
Lam himself was injured during the incident after a man in a white shirt chased him with a rod and hit him, causing his mouth to bleed. The ex-lawmaker required stitches afterwards.
Judge Stanley Chan, who presided over the case, said he did not believe that Lam had been exercising his role as a lawmaker to mediate the conflict, nor monitor police enforcement at Yuen Long station. Chan said he was trying to take advantage of the situation for his own political benefit.
Among the white-shirted men who were charged with rioting, one of them, Choi Lap-ki, was initially convicted but appealed and won. His rioting and wounding with intent charges were dropped.
Separately, another man Wong Chi-wing, who was found not guilty will see his case re-trialled in next January following the Department of Justice’s appeal.
