HK police arrest documentary producer behind investigation of mob attack

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong journalist was arrested Tuesday in a probe linked to a recent documentary she co-produced investigating an attack on democracy supporters by government loyalists, a move her employers described as “chilling”.

Public broadcaster RTHK said officers searched producer Choy Yuk-ling’s home following her arrest. 

Police confirmed the operation on Tuesday evening saying Choy was arrested on suspicion of making an improper application to access car owner details.

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RTHK drew a direct link between Choy’s arrest and an investigation she co-produced into the “Yuen Long attack”, an assault in July last year by dozens of men armed with sticks on people returning from a protest.

“The show revealed how police were patrolling the town before the rampage and took no action over the men wielding weapons,” RTHK said in a tweet announcing Choy’s arrest.

“Like everyone else, I am also concerned that this will have a chilling effect,” RTHK head Leung Ka-wing told reporters.

Images of the assault in Yuen Long, a town close to the rural border with mainland China, and the police’s failure to respond quickly enough was a turning point in last year’s huge and often violent pro-democracy protests, further hammering public trust in the force.

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In a documentary titled “Who Owns The Truth?”, which ran as the one year anniversary of the attack approached, RTHK used footage filmed by witnesses and security cameras, as well as public number plate searches and interviews, to piece together what happened that night. 

It uncovered new details about the alleged attackers, some of whom have links to politically influential rural committees that support Beijing.

It also said police failed to respond to the build up of stick-wielding men ferried into the district by specific vehicles that evening hours before the attack. 

While police have admitted not responding quickly enough, arguing officers were busy dealing with largescale protests elsewhere, they have vehemently denied any suggestion of collusion.

Police say they have arrested a number of the attackers, some of whom have links to “triad” organised crime gangs. Some fled to the Chinese mainland. 

More recently police have arrested some of those attacked by the mob on rioting charges. 

The Hong Kong Journalists Association condemned Choy’s arrest.