Pellets hit window of court hearing subversion trial

A five-meter-tall glass window at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts was hit by pellets fired by a gun yesterday afternoon, on the third day of a subversion trial involving 16 defendants prosecuted for their involvement in a 2020 unofficial primary election.

The glass panel was part of the window stretching from the first to third floors of the court building. The hearing was in a courtroom on the fourth floor.

After 1pm yesterday the panel was found cracked, with a three-centimeter hole similar to a bullet hole in the top left corner.

Police believe the window was hit by pellet-like projectiles from outside the building.

Dozens of police were sent to the court building to investigate. About 6pm police cordoned off the section of Tung Chau Street adjacent to the court to search for the projectile that hit the glass panel. But nothing was found.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said he is "immensely concerned" as he strongly condemned violence intended to disrupt or damage the administration of justice. "In Hong Kong, where the rule of law is upheld, no act of violent attack or intimidation against the courts or judicial officers will be tolerated," he said.

A judiciary spokesman said that since a key trial is being heard, the judiciary has stepped up security arrangements in the building.

At the hearing yesterday, the deputy director of public prosecutions, Anthony Chau Tin-hang, named seven of the defendants and detailed their part in the alleged subversion plot.

He said three of them - Hong Kong Island pro-democratic district councilors Michael Pang Cheuk-kei, Tat Cheng Tat-hung and Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying - had signed a "resistance declaration" and pledged to veto the budget and force then-chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to answer the protesters' five demands.

Civic Party member Cheng, who won the Hong Kong Island constituency in the primary election, subsequently submitted his application to the Electoral Affairs Commission to become a candidate for the Legislative Council election.

Independent Yeung lost in the primary election but also submitted her application to join the Legco race following authorities' disqualification of pro-democratic candidates. Pang, also an independent, lost in the primary election and did not throw his hat in the ring for the Legco polls.

The 16 defendants have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy of subversion. They are among 47 pro-democratic heavyweights facing the charge, with 31 others having pleaded guilty, including four who have turned prosecution witnesses.