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A Hong Kong protester brutally beaten by police got jail time for “resisting arrest”

A hospital staff pushes Ken Tsang Kin-chiu on a wheelchair for a medical examination at Ruttonjee Hospital in Hong Kong
A hospital staff pushes Ken Tsang Kin-chiu on a wheelchair for a medical examination at Ruttonjee Hospital in Hong Kong

Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, a Hong Kong politician and social worker who was beaten in a dark doorway during the Umbrella Movement protests by police, was sentenced Monday (May 30) to five weeks in jail for “assaulting police” and “resisting arrest.”

Tsang intentionally assaulted police officers by pouring liquid on them from an overpass as they were clearing protestors in Oct. 2014, judge Peter Law ruled. Tsang had pleaded “not guilty” and his lawyer argued that police had identified the wrong man.

Several police handcuffed him after the water-pouring incident, and one pulled his goggles from his face and pepper-sprayed him. Then he was hauled to a dark corner by seven officers and beaten, which was filmed by local television channel TVB:

The news channel later reedited its broadcast of the event to cut out the beating, and an announcer only said the police were “suspected” of using excessive force—a change that sparked widespread outcry in Hong Kong and inspired some viewers to abandon the channel altogether.

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Hong Kong’s police at the time “expressed concern” over the incident, and pledged to investigate. The seven officers involved will be sentenced on Wednesday (June 1). Tsang is appealing his sentence.

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