Man accused of rioting in Yuen Long mob attack claims he did not hit anyone
A man charged with rioting during a mob attack in Hong Kong against anti-extradition bill protesters in 2019 denied hitting anyone that night.
Ng Wai-nam, 57, on Wednesday denied prosecutors’ accusations that he used a stick to hit a man who was wearing a helmet.
The stick did not belong to him, Ng told the District Court. He only snatched it from a man wearing black — the color commonly donned by protesters — after feeling threatened by him.
Thinking the crowds were going to demolish an ancestral hall, Ng waved the stick around and hit water barriers with it in an attempt to disperse the people, he said.
However, the prosecution said Ng’s claims didn’t match up with video footage that showed he was given the stick by a man in a checked shirt.
Judge Eddie Ip also questioned a medical report submitted by Ng’s lawyer. The defense team attempted to retract the report at one point but in the end decided to continue with the submission.
Ng is one of eight people accused of rioting in Yuen Long on July 21, 2019. Two of them have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The mob attack, which left dozens hospitalized, marked a watershed moment in Hong Kong’s social unrest and further fueled the movement’s discord with the police, whom protesters accused of being absent during the rampage.
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