Littering, nuisance penalties for remembering Prince Edward station raid

At least five people have been slapped with the penalty ticket for breaching the two-people gathering ban. 

This comes as thousands of people presented flowers outside the Prince Edward MTR station on Monday evening to mark the one-year anniversary of the ‘831’ incident. 

On August 31 last year, police officers allegedly indiscriminately assaulted passengers during their arrests of suspected protesters returning home on the platforms of Prince Edward station. Rumors began to brew that some passengers had died or gone missing during the incident. 

Since 6pm, citizens started to queue up outside the station, while pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching and Yau Tsim Mong district council vice-chairman Andy Yu Tak-po stood outside the station to collect flowers used to mourn alleged victims of the incident from citizens. 

At least 15 boxes of flowers had been collected, and the queue had lasted for two hours. 

The sidewalk at the intersection of Prince Edward Road West and Nathan Road was occupied by black-clad citizens, and the police had to spend ten minutes to clear people of Prince Edward Road West. 

Police also repeatedly ordered citizens to leave the vicinity as they frisked citizens in black within the area. 

At least a man and a woman were nabbed. 

Protesters near the station repeatedly chanted slogans such as ‘Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times’.

In response, police officers warned protesters they may be on suspicion of breaching the national security law. 

At around 8pm, Yu moved one block away from the Prince Edward station to continue to collect flowers, as protesters gathered and shouted slogans opposite the Mong Kok police station.

Earlier at around 4pm, officers began fining those who laid flowers outside the MTR station, adding that a social worker was ‘littering’ and another activist was causing a nuisance to passengers. 

They include social worker Hendrick Lui Chi-hang, who was slapped with a HK$1,500 penalty for littering and David Li Kwok-wing, known as ‘lunch brother,’ was ticketed for nuisance to other passengers inside the station by MTR staff.

Although police told district councilors to stop offering flowers outside the station, chairman of the Yau Tsim Mong District Council Kenny Lam Kin-man said they will not refrain from doing so.

Although police told district councilors to stop offering flowers outside the station, chairman of the Yau Tsim Mong District Council Kenny Lam Kin-man said they will not refrain from doing so.

Kex Leung Yiu-ting, then Education University student union president, said the attention should go back to officers using excessive force instead of the death rumors. 

“The society is using so much time and effort to debate whether there are deaths inside the station on that night, but regardless of whether anyone died in the station, it was an incident that the police illegally used excessive force on citizens,” Leung said.

He also said he is planning to file civil litigation against the police soon, after watching over 90 hours of relevant CCTV footage that the High Court ordered MTR Corp in March to release from two stations to Leung.

“I am planning to file a civil claim for compensation against the police for the injuries I sustained in the station that night, and I believe the security footage helps with my legal actions,” he said, but he stopped short of giving more details of the case.