- School says 18-year-old student will not be expelled over allegation he stabbed officer in neck during Kwun Tong unrest
- Priority is to support arrested pupil and warn his peers against attending ‘dangerous public events’, vice principal says
A Form Six pupil in Hong Kong has been charged for causing grievous bodily harm to a police sergeant during Sunday's anti-government protests.
The charge of wounding with intent carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and the case will be heard in the Eastern Magistrates' Courts on Tuesday afternoon.
But his school, De La Salle Secondary School N.T. in Sheung Shui, coping with the crisis, told the Post on Tuesday morning that it would not expel the 18-year-old.
The demonstrator was suspected to have injured the sergeant with a box cutter during a protest in Kwun Tong on Sunday, leaving him with a 3cm wound to his neck.
The officer had been dispatched to Kwun Tong MTR station after reports of criminal damage by a group of men wearing black.
By the time the sergeant had arrived the group had left the scene, but a black-clad man sprang from the crowd and assaulted him with the blade, injuring his jugular vein and nerve, police alleged.
The sergeant is in a stable condition at United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong.
On Monday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Ping-keung said at the force's press conference a person had been arrested for attempted murder, adding the attack at close range showed "intent to take his (the officer's) life".
De La Salle's Vice Principal Poon Man-yiu told the Post on Tuesday the arrested person attended the school, but said he would not be expelled.
"It is a serious case, and our teachers and students are all very upset and concerned on learning of his arrest," he said.
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"But I believe the school's priority right now is to offer help and support to him and his family, and to remind students to stay away from dangerous public events at this tense time in our society."
Poon said school staff had visited the student at Tseung Kwan O Police Station on Sunday night after the arrest, where the pupil was still detained.
The school also briefed students about the incident at assembly on Monday, Poon said, adding counselling was offered to distressed students. The school said it was not aware of any other students being arrested for protest-related offences since June.
Founded in 1965, the Catholic school sits in the northern border town of Sheung Shui in the New Territories and is government-aided.
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Hong Kong has been gripped by more than four months of street protests sparked by opposition to the now-scrapped extradition bill.
Demonstrations have since morphed into a wider anti-government movement, focusing on alleged police brutality and lack of democracy.
Earlier this month, two young protesters were shot by police in separate incidents and arrested, but their secondary schools made clear they would not be expelled, despite pressure for heavier punishments from Communist Party mouthpiece Xinhua and former city leader Leung Chun-ying.
On Monday, police announced off-duty officers would from Tuesday be given pepper spray to "execute constabulary duties" amid increasingly violent clashes with anti-government protesters. The crowd-control agent has been commonly used for public order policing in Hong Kong.
An internal memo said only officers trained in the use of OC Foam would be eligible to carry it during off-duty hours, and its use would be governed by the force's guidelines.
Speaking on a radio programme on Tuesday, Edwin Cheng Shing-lung, a former member of the police watchdog Independent Police Complaints Council, called on the force to clarify guidelines.
Cheng said: "Do the off-duty cops need to reveal their identity and show their warrant card before hitting people with pepper spray?
"And who should they report to if they have used the device in another district rather than where they are based?
"I am also concerned about the psychological condition of the officers if they still have to carry pepper spray after work. Will they think they are still at work and will this put additional pressure on himself and people around him?"
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