Small group demands barrister Tanya Chan be barred

A handful of people joined a protest organized by a pro-government group outside the High Court today, demanding that Civic Party legislator and barrister Tanya Chan be disbarred over claims she breached a new law on public gatherings, RTHK reports.

The government said last week that police will investigate whether Chan violated a new coronavirus-era law banning public gatherings of more than four people when she went to a bar in Sham Shui Po early this month.

Chan said she was there in her capacity as a legislator for a meeting with some 40 bar industry representatives, and the venue was closed to the public at the time.

But the pro-government group, whose name in Chinese roughly translates as "Hong Kong love, Chinese hearts," dismissed the idea that Chan was holding a meeting.

One of the protesters, Alex Yeung, said he had read in news reports that Chan's face was flushed when she left the bar, suggesting she had been drinking.

Yeung called on the owner of the bar to release any CCTV footage taken on the night, to reveal exactly what had been going on inside.

The group handed a petition letter to the Bar Association, simultaneously urging it to disqualify Chan as a barrister, as well as to launch a disciplinary hearing into her actions.

They argued that it is even worse for a barrister to break the law than other people.