Pier Politiking 2: Imprisonment

This is a follow up on one of the blog entry i wrote almost a year ago...(damn it's been that long?)

The Queen's Pier, as some of you will remember, was torn down last year. I was there on the last day when the pier was still open to the public when many went to protest and visited the pier for one last time. But I won't go into that, because, if you're interested, you can read about my experience on that day in one of my earlier entry...

This entry is written to question the validity of the sentencing of the two protesters arrested on the afternoon of August 1st, 2007 when the cops were closing in to barricade the pier. The two accused, Fung Bing Tak (馮炳德) and Ma Cho Ming (馬楚明), were sentenced to two and four months imprisonment respectively, and get this, without bail pending appeal because the judge thought the case to be serious and the defendants showed no sense of remorse for what they've committed. And what they've committed is this: Fung bite a police officer on the arm while several officers were trying to tug him away from the scene and Ma poked an officer in the eye and punched another officer in the back of the head.

Did they commit a crime? Yes, they did assault several officers, who, being most sympathetic in mind, were just doing their duty and probably did not want to hurt any of the protesters. But in the chaos that was happening all around the pier when the police were trying to drag away the protesters by force (which many claimed excessive), what Fung and Ma did, again being most sympathetic in mind, could very well be self defense or mere acts of passion-over-reason (albeit unwise).

What I'm trying to say is that the sentencing of the two protesters to imprisonment and the judge's refusal to grant the defendants bail pending appeal seemed unreasonably harsh to me and many others who have been following this case. We can't help but think of this trial as another politically charged effort to prosecute the so-called 'troublemakers', and in turn, discourage the support for any grassroot movement that goes against government policies. The judge could very well sentence the defendants with social services duties, but no, she claimed that because the defendants pleaded not guilty, therefore they have no remorse, hence she did not consider social services as a sentence. And to make things worse, the judge refused to grant the defendants the right to bail themselves and prepare for an appeal because she found the case to be "serious"?!? Sigh...

I guess the judge is right though, these people are serious...

they seriously love Hong Kong...and that's their crime...

D....

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gd_x2I4hXc

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz32vBOB800