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Three Hong Kong men have been jailed for 28 days over firing water guns at police and reporters from local broadcaster TVB during a Thai water festival last year.
A magistrate judge sentenced Tsang Wai-shing, Ip Ka-kin and Yuen Tsz-kin at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
They were earlier found guilty of assaulting a police officer and common assault in relation to an incident last April, when revellers gathered in Kowloon City – known as “little Thailand ” – for the Songkran water festival.
The celebration typically sees revellers splash and squirt water on each other as a way of washing away sins and bad luck.
Video of the men squirting water at police officers and TVB reporters was shared on a YouTube channel linked to the defendants called “Bravedogdog.”
Handing down the sentences, magistrate Philip Chan said the defendants had ignored the fact that the police and reporters did not consent to being targeted, and squirted water at them from a close distance, according to local media reports.
Chan added that police must be protected and respected, saying that it was not in the general public interest if law enforcement was unable to carry out its duties.
During mitigation ahead of sentencing, the defence said the case involved only water guns and not any elements of violence and the officers and reporters were not injured.
Chan handed down a 28-day jail term for the assaulting police charge and 14 days for the common assault charge to all three defendants, with both terms to be served concurrently.
Tsang, Ip and Yuen were convicted in October after a trial, with the magistrate saying that squirting water from such a close distance far exceeded the acceptable standards of the festival. The defence that the three were “just having fun” was not appropriate, the magistrate said.
The only defendant to testify during the trial, Yuen said the officers had chalk on their faces and that he believed they were “half playing, half working.” He said he had no ill intentions when firing water guns at them.
Yuen also said he had not noticed the word “Press” on the TVB reporters’ raincoats, believing instead that they read “Pass.”
One of the officers who was squirted with water testified that he had felt uncomfortable and that it “did not feel friendly.”
He added that he did not tell people to stop squirting water at him but that he had raised his hand to indicate his opposition.
One of the TVB reporters testified that being squirted with water was “very annoying and uncomfortable,” particularly as he had to do his on-camera reporting. But he said he did not file any complaints to police, and that it was his company or police who reached out to him to help with the investigation.
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