Losing weight over lawsuit - a case of obstruction magnified by the political movement 

Citizens of Hong Kong were disquieted last year when a cleaning worker was brought to court on 5 Aug 2019 for allegedly blocking riot police from pursuing a group of young protesters. At the beginning of June this year, Ho Wing-lung was convicted of obstructing a police officer. A criminal accomplice in the eyes of the magistrate, Ho was considered a self-sacrificing "sau zuk" [comrade] to pro-democracy supporters. Ho wore a stoic air of fearlessness in court. His emaciated frame, however, revealed the toll of his psychological pressures. He insisted that the ordeal was but a trivial matter magnified by the rest of the political movement.  

“You seemed to have lost weight?” I asked Ho on the first day of the trial. 

Ho lowered his voice, "I haven't been eating very well these days."

The last time I saw him was at the pre-trial review in January this year. The hearing, originally scheduled to take place in February, was postponed to May due to the coronavirus pandemic. On top of the current political turmoil, these delays have put Ho under ineffable stress. "Things are going from bad to worse," he said. "These kinds of lies just become bigger and bigger!”

The video played in court failed to show Ho blocking the riot police with his arms outstretched. What it did capture was a policeman shouting, "You're obstructing the police!" Ho was brought to the ground, restrained by three to four riot police officers. "You're twisting my hand!" he protested repeatedly as he was handcuffed and arrested. 

Originally sent to Sham Shui Po Police Station, Ho was suddenly transferred to Hung Hom instead. Ho was a petty gang member in his youth and was unafraid of the police. "I have seen the world. My skin is thicker than a phone book. How are they going to intimidate someone like me?"

There were some young arrestees at the same police station. Thrust into the frontlines of the protest movement, they were met with a flurry of political suppression and all sorts of insults. Ho watched the heinous treatment the police officers doled out to these young protesters but could do nothing to help them.

Ho repeatedly asked to call his younger sister; he waited for five hours before the police finally relented. Just before his 48-hour detention period expired, the police decided to prosecute him. Ho's requests to inform his sister of the court date were continually ignored. When he appeared at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts on 7 August, she was absent from the gallery. 

While the prosecution did not object to Ho's release on bail, they requested adding a curfew from midnight to 6 am. This prevented him from working night shifts and amplified the difficulty with paying his $5,000 rent. Despite his lawyer's protests, the magistrate had the final word. Sympathetic netizens were taken aback by the court's unreasonable decision and planned to raise funds to cover Ho's living expenses.

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On one occasion, I climbed up six flights of stairs of a tenement building to visit Ho's living quarters in Sham Shui Po. Cigarette butts floated in the stagnant water that collected in the stairwells. On the floors where the lights malfunctioned, I could only avoid getting my shoes wet by groping about in the dark.

Upon entering the flat, I heard two huge tortoises crawling through the kitchen. In Ho's bedroom, a hedgehog lived in a spacious cage. Preferring the company of animals to people, he had always worked nights cleaning windows while suspended from the top of a shopping centre in Tsuen Wan. He spent his days off at Lantau Island. "It's calming to look at the mountains and the sea," he said.

Ho's flat did not feel cramped or claustrophobic despite being only 100 square feet. There was little clutter. He neatly kept a radio and a stack of newspapers in the kitchen. Folded clothes were tidily arranged on the shelves in his bedroom. He did not have any chairs so we sat on the floor and chatted as pop classics blared from the storefronts of Ap Liu Street.

Ho was compelled to take political action on 21 July after watching the news of indiscriminate attacks on citizens in Yuen Long by men in white. Ho was unfamiliar with the district. Nonetheless, he joined the unauthorised protests that took place there a week later. On 5 August, the citizens called for a city-wide strike. Residents from all seven districts gathered en masse in hopes that the government would withdraw the amendments to the extradition bill and launch an independent investigation [into alleged police brutality]. As expected, Hong Kong did not completely shut down that day. Roadblocks and tear gas became the norm as heated tensions on the street burst into full-fledged clashes that continued from morning to night.  

In a city where self-reliance is a cardinal virtue, the culture of trade unions and awareness surrounding labour rights have struggled to take root. Organising a general strike posed an immense challenge despite the rapid political awakening in the people of Hong Kong. Ultimately, even those who were dissatisfied with the government found it difficult to risk their livelihoods.

Every time I saw Ho, he would say the same thing: "It's just a small case, I have no clue why it's taking so long!" He had thought that the pre-trial review in January would have been his last court appearance. The complicated procedures the court system can leave many working-class citizens confused. Nonetheless, in the eyes of those in power, "troublemakers" like Ho need to be handled with no holds barred.

One night, Ho was awoken at 2 am by five police officers to ensure he was obeying his curfew. Shaken by this incident, he has since spent many a sleepless night with Youtube as a familiar companion.

The curfew was lifted on his third court appearance. However, the Department of Justice altered Ho's initial charge under the Summary Offences Ordinance to wilfully obstructing a police officer under the Offences against the Person Ordinance. Originally, the maximum penalty was $1,000 and six months' imprisonment. Ho could now face up to two years in prison with the new charge.

Ho refused to plead guilty. "If I'm convicted, it would be the injustice of the century!"

Ten days later, Ho was sentenced to 160 hours of community service. According to his defence attorney, unpaid labour was already a heavy sentence for ordinary citizens living hand-to-mouth. 

About a dozen supporters waited for Ho outside the courthouse. Upon his release, he bowed to everyone in gratitude and held up his open hand to gesture "Five Demands". Being detained was not an easy experience. The bags under his eyes craved respite. Still, he could not help saying, "If I had to do it all over again, I would."

Ho moved to Hong Kong from Malaysia as a child. He desired a simple and peaceful life but Hong Kong's recent protests dispelled the city's illusion of prosperity and freedom. He saw young people burdened with oppression and the police act without regard for the law. He considered spending the remainder of his life in Malaysia and even gave away his tortoises. 

He had little more to say about his own court case. While he supported the idea of a general strike, most of his colleagues were politically conservative. "I can't see how we can win this battle." Nonetheless, he insisted that "an independent investigation on the police must happen first." In the meantime, he could only help as much as his abilities allowed. "A single action, a single word, may already help others in the same boat."

Source: InMedia HK

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