Police arrested 41 for allegedly participating in an illegal assembly after moving in to disperse a group of people who had gathered in Tseung Kwan O to mourn a university student who died after being injured in a fall during a pro-democracy protest four months ago.
Chow Tsz-lok, a 22-year-old computer science student, fell from a height of about four meters inside a car park as riot police nearby fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who had gathered in the area for a flash protest. He was taken to hospital with severe head injuries, and died days later of cardiac arrest.
Mourners gathered outside the car park at the Sheung Tak Estate on Sunday evening, lit candles and placed flowers in front of a picture of the student, and observed a moment of silence while riot police stood by watching the crowd, RTHK reports.
At about 8:50pm, police moved in and raised a blue banner declaring the gathering an illegal assembly, before surrounding those gathered outside the car park and demanding to check identities and carry out searches.
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Police posted onto their Facebook page that officers had found petrol bombs, glass bottles, lighters, bricks, umbrellas, and helmets hidden in a stairwell inside the car park, and said they “couldn’t rule out” the possibility that some people were planning to use those items to stage a demonstration.
https://www.facebook.com/HongKongPoliceForce/posts/3020721854682425?__xts__[0]=68.ARC42wNoIgrguy7bqztUf9wyEmcZIxfUQzgIuSyKKdz-xhte1kvibeJ0yz-FOdRtM-3VskuZFuEFd8MO6KD-GSeDvHe0gfITvq3qtDjrfuEL551jBQd95YxBOulR51G1olzn3ylNCbAaBn0kAwaVMa32-1JTPA-6Zt0ZphqmHjO0VgfY_EDDlc9J8-IzXW1OEo5YZ43ln1jjROsg8BlpSkO-e7LWmgrSLKG688z9jR5DCRWzh3BNBfbe6zBed2XZDjzRQr96iX8EcULZfFaeVLz5fL6Z6Y3uM9ANvAaB16YqFCqnPoBRfVVtI8q7zpJ7gLZzlAnEVREOr2gMA171LzTmvQ&__tn__=-R
A crowd of people also gathered in Admiralty to remember Marco Leung, the 35-year-old protester who fell to his death outside Pacific Place Mall after unfurling an anti-extradition bill banner on top of the mall in the early days of the months-long protest movement.
Saturday would have been Leung’s birthday, and mourners laid flowers, lit candles, and played the protest anthem Glory To Hong Kong.
Although riot police were in the area at the time, that event ended peacefully.
