Mat only read the headline, so he thinks you mean that sentence was for setting fire to the police car.
Same as my post No. 2... he failed to notice that I was inquiring as to what the sentence for assault the police officer was... to me, that would give some context to the riot sentence... either way, not all riots are equal and this was a riot that was extraordinarily violent by Hong Kong standards.
No I did not. I read the article and my English is fine no worries.The guy who set the car on fire got 7 years, the other dude got 5 years with 2 years suspended. (lot less than 6 years if my maths are still ok)The 2 of you consider that 6 years is fair and rather the norm. I tend to think otherwise and so far nothing of what you have posted prove the opposite of what I think. You just don't like ppl who don't agree with you that's all.
He got 5 years with 2 years suspended - vs 6 years.Not to mentioned that Leung insisted he was sorry many times...and anyone who has seen the French video know the level of violence was so much more than the ones at the "riots" in HK..."[Leung] threw a white bucket at the policeman and kicked him with his right foot. He then smacked the officer's back using a wooden board before fleeing," the prosecution told the courtWhen driver Kevin Philippy emerged from the car, French protester Nicolas Fensch lunged at him and assaulted him with an iron barI know which one I wouldn't want to face in a fight....
Edward Leung was sentenced to 6 years for being at the riot. I did not see any evidence he participated in riotous activity (assaulting the police officer was treated as a separate offence) and he was also not guilty of inciting people to riot. He was in custody from 2:16AM so only involved for 2 hours most of which was a standoff between woefully ill equipped police and an angry mob. The running battles with the police and trash can fires were later and he didn't engage or witness any looting or damage to private property as there wasn't any.
There really should be a public enquiry into the activity of the police that night as they did not do a very good job of quelling the mob that was in Mongkok. 2 hours after it started the crowd was still being managed by police motorbikers who were ill equipped and probably ill trained to deal with the situation. Unfortunately the regional store of crowd control equipment was in Mongkok police station so a good 5 minutes walk (1:50 on the MTR) away which obviously hampered reaction time of Asia's finest.
Should people who join a riot be punished. Yes but there involvement and the severity of riot should be taken into account on sentencing. The sentence looks very harsh.
Killing chicken to scare the monkeys is the expression CCP representatives are quite proud to publicize as a time-tested authoritarian deterrent against any dissent.
Regarding the sentence, any actual violence should be condemned, unless it was clearly in self defense.
In a society with rule-of-law rather than rule-by-law, any violence committed by the police, military or triad thugs hired by the gov't should be treated at least with equal severity. How does Edward Leung's crime and punishment compare to the Dark Corner gang mugging by the police?