判決理由書／裁決書撮要(由AI生成)
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The judgment states that from 18 to 19 November 2019, police at the Nathan Road and Waterloo Road area in Yau Ma Tei were attacked by multiple protesters wielding glass bottles, petrol bombs, bricks and other objects. The scene was ablaze with fire and filled with smoke, escalating into a serious riot. The defendants were successively subdued at a central point on that stretch of road and taken to a temporary holding area; both claimed they were merely passing through the scene to visit a friend’s home or to shop, and had no awareness of the riot. Following the trial and corroboration by recorded footage, CCTV and testimonies from multiple officers, it was held that both had, intentionally or otherwise, joined and encouraged the riot, with conclusive evidence.
According to section 18(1) (unlawful assembly) and section 19 (riot) of the Public Order Ordinance, and the participation and encouragement standards set out in the Court of Final Appeal’s Leung case.
Both defendants were arrested in the heart of the riot, on a road where attacks on the police were ongoing, without any reasonable excuse to remain; their statements are self-contradictory, and the evidence shows an intention to engage in or facilitate the riot, beyond the mere presence category.
The defendants’ testimonies are riddled with contradictions and are unreasonable, seriously inconsistent with the undisputed facts and police video recordings, and thus were not accepted; taking all the evidence together, it is found that they participated in and encouraged the riot, with no question of culpability.
This court convicts both defendants of the offence of riot under section 19 of the Public Order Ordinance. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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判刑理由書撮要(由AI生成)
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The judgment stated that on the evening of November 18, 2019, six defendants at the junction of Nathan Road and Waterloo Road in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, responded to an online call to form the “Rescue Front”, where more than a thousand protesters erected roadblocks to confront the police, throwing over 250 petrol bombs and bricks at officers, resulting in injuries to four police officers and damage to multiple public facilities, before ultimately being surrounded and arrested by the police.
The offence of riot carries a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, with no specific guidelines; referring to the Court of Appeal’s opinion, the starting point for sentencing is five years’ imprisonment, and the sentence must be both deterrent and punitive.
This case involved a premeditated, large-scale riot, with over a thousand protesters for more than an hour, throwing numerous petrol bombs at police officers and damaging facilities, thereby posing a serious threat to public order and safety.
The court held that the defendants were only participants, with no leadership or instigation roles; although they had pleaded guilty and had good backgrounds, only a discretionary reduction in sentence was permissible to demonstrate the law’s determination to maintain public order.
The six defendants pleaded guilty to riot, with a starting point of five years’ imprisonment and a 25% reduction for guilty plea, reducing the term to 45 months; one defendant received a further four-month reduction due to age and volunteer background, resulting in a final sentence of 41 months’ imprisonment, while the others were each sentenced to 45 months’ imprisonment. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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