Prosecutors in Hong Kong amended a charge against a social worker at the last minute on Thursday, after video evidence revealed in court suggested her innocence.

The move infuriated defense counsel, who reprimanded their rival lawyers from the Department of Justice for “resorting to every dirty trick possible” to get the defendant convicted.

Before the amendment, social worker Hui Lai-ming, 50, was charged with assaulting a police officer on Sept. 29 last year during an anti-government demonstration in Admiralty that was part of months-long bloody clashes between law enforcement and protesters. A plain-clothes officer deployed a live round that day.

The prosecution sought to change the charge, to one of obstructing another police officer from performing work duties, after the defense played a video at the hearing proving Hui did not assault the initial officer.

Hui’s attorney objected, saying the prosecution had not proposed any changes after two pre-trial reviews, and that the move was neither fair to Hui nor procedurally proper.

Magistrate May Chung, sitting in the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, approved the amendment. She also accepted prima facie evidence against Hui, who decided not to testify, so the verdict would be pronounced next Wednesday.

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