A young protester who was shot while demonstrating on Oct. 1 in 2019 has been arrested after attempting to flee to Taiwan, according to local media reports.
Sing Tao Daily reported that Tsang Chi-kin, whom authorities have named a suspect for allegedly rioting and assaulting a police officer, was absent at an earlier court hearing.
The Chinese-language paper added that he was arrested on Wednesday and will appear in court today.
The daily reported that Tsang and three others planned to take a speedboat from Wong Shek Pier in Sai Kung to Taiwan in the early hours of Wednesday but were arrested by police on the spot.
The four, aged between 16 and 23, were arrested for not following court orders to surrender to custody.
Tsang was an 18-year-old high school student when he was shot in the chest at point-blank range by a police officer during the National Day protests in Tsuen Wan in 2019.
After recovering from the injury, the police charged him with assaulting a police officer and rioting.
He did not appear for a court hearing in Dec. 2020, after which a warrant was issued for his arrest.
It was rumored that he was already in hiding overseas, with the London-based advocacy group Friends of Hong Kong saying Tsang had gone into exile but not giving any further details.
But the daily said it was possible he returned to Hong Kong to turn himself in for economic or family-related reasons.
It added it was also possible that he had never left Hong Kong at all and the rumor was only to spread false news.
