By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Protesters gather outside the courthouse to support those arrested, including Pioquinto |
Filipino dancer Jethro Pioquinto
was released this evening, Aug. 5, after posting bail of $2,000 in Kowloon City
Court where he was charged for unlawful assembly, but was not allowed to go
home to Manila as planned for a family reunion.
Magistrate Raymond Wong said that
one of the bail conditions for the Hong Kong Disneyland performer was not to
leave Hong
Kong. The other conditions are that he will
have to observe a
midnight to 6am curfew and report
to the Mong Kok police every Wednesday morning.
Pioquinto, 36, a performer at Hong
Kong Disneyland since 2008, was released around 6:30pm on Monday after a
late-afternoon committal hearing for 13 people arrested on the night of Aug 3,
when police broke up a rally on Nathan
Road.
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| Pioquinto looking scared as police in riot gear surrounded him on Sunday, Aug 4 |
He appeared in court with his right
arm wrapped in thick gauze pad due to a laceration that he suffered when he
tumbled on the pavement and riot police ganged up on him.
Officers
of the Consulate who attended the hearing said Pioquinto was held at the North
Point Police Station following his arrest but was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole
Eastern Hospital the next morning where he was examined and treated for his
injuries.
The SUN asked to talk to Pioquinto
after he posted bail and was released by police, but he begged off, saying he could not comment yet as his case is still
under investigation and he might say something that could complicate it.
The prosecution said the defendant
refused to leave when the police ordered the protesters to go before they began
a clearing operation.
 |
Pioquinto was tackled before being arrested in Mongkok.
His friends say he was just passing by, but police claim he did not heed an order to leave. |
But the defense lawyer said
Pioquinto was not a rally participant and could not have understood the police
order to leave because he does not speak Cantonese.
In fact, the lawyer said, the
defendant had already bought a plane ticket to Manila departing
on Aug 15 and returning on Aug 23 to attend a family reunion which will also be joined by some of his siblings who work abroad.
The lawyer said Pioquinto, who has
no relatives in Hong
Kong, goes home to the Philippines two to
three times a year.
Friends of the defendant said on
social media he was on his way home to his rented room in Mong Kok when he got
caught up in the rally.
The prosecution said it strongly
opposed the defendant’s application to travel to the Philippines because of the
risk that he would not return to Hong
Kong.
Pioquinto appeared in court
together with a Chinese co-defendant who, like him, was arrested on Saturday
evening.
Magistrate Wong granted bail to 12 other protesters arrested on Saturday and ordered then to return for the
next hearing on Sept 30.
Meanwhile, fierce clashes erupted again tonight in North Point between protesters and a group of pole-wielding assailants.
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| The North Point clashes between black-clad protesters and men wielding wooden poles |
The skirmishes lasted for a few minutes as protesters were walking towards the North Point police station, where those arrested by police in Mongkok Sunday night were held.
No police were in sight during the melee, but it was clear from videos of the incident posted online that a few people were injured.
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