A member of the Global Times staff said he told protesters at Hong Kong International Airport he was tourist, but they saw his "I love HK police" shirt and attacked him.

Fu Guohao, 29, recounted his ordeal in District Court yesterday when giving evidence before judge Clement Lee Hing-nin in a trial involving three men and one woman and trouble at the airport in August.

The four are part-time hotel waiter Lai Yun-long, 20, activist Amy Pat Wai-fan, 23, part-time driver and construction worker Ho Ka-lok, 29, and surveyor Wong Yat-ho, 29.

Lai, Pat and Ho denied a charge of rioting amid protests at the airport from August 13 to 14 while Lai and Pat also pleaded not guilty to a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Pat and Wong also pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment for detaining Fu against his will, and Wong denied taking part in an illegal assembly.

Fu said he has been an editorial staffer at huanqiu.com - a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party's Global Times - since 2018. He went to work in Hong Kong on August 6 last year.

He was wearing a reflective vest with "reporter" printed on it at the airport on August 13, though he did not have documents of his own to show he worked for media.

But Fu carried a press pass borrowed from a colleague. He had not been issued with a press pass in the mainland and said: "I rarely use the identity of a reporter."

It was around 11 pm, Fu said, and he was taking pictures.

That was when someone asked if he had a press pass, to which Fu replied in English: "I am a tourist."

He did not reply in Putonghua, Fu said, as he was afraid mainlanders "might be targeted."

Then many people approached him and he was punched and tied to a baggage cart. And people forced him to unlock his mobile phone and searched his luggage.

And people became enraged when they discovered among his belongings a short-sleeved shirt with "I love Hong Kong police" printed on it.

Fu said he then shouted "I support Hong Kong police, you can beat me now."

He also said protesters behaved "differently from how Hong Kong citizens should."

Fu continues to testify today.

maisy.mok@singtaonewscorp.com

Mainlander tells of ordeal at airport