“Support Our Social Workers And Uphold Justice” Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding goal: HKD 3.3 million

In accordance with the fundamental values and beliefs of “the Code of Practice of the Social Workers Registration Ordinance”, social workers bear the responsibility to advance social justice and to safeguard human rights. In the course of social movements these days, social workers should observe the actions of protesters and police and the development of the events from the perspectives of a person, the family, the society and the social system.

"Battlefield Social Workers" is a coalition formed on 16th June 2019, by the Hong Kong Social Workers' General Union. Battlefield Social Workers has sent teams to the field 53 times, and social workers have joined the fieldwork 1195 times. From the experience and training of social workers, we know that understanding the psyche and background of both the police and civilians will help us calmly assess the situation of protests. We can therefore make judgement on the ways in which we can remind the police to curb their use of excessive force on civilians which may escalate the intense situation. Despite the duties they are obliged to carry out, under no circumstance should the police use excessive force to hurt civilians or restrain protesters under arrest.

It is also common to see passers-by who only want to find a way to get away from where protests erupt. Battlefield Social Workers give them a hand so that they won’t be hurt by the police. We social workers volunteer to provide help, such as emotional support, to people who are traumatised or arrested during the demonstrations, so that they won’t have radical thoughts and behaviours due to despair or anger. Last year, Battlefield Social Workers provided humanitarian support during the protests. This is our work - to protect lives and defend human rights.

However, five of our Battlefield Social Workers and a social worker from the Reclaiming Social Work Movement have been either repressed or physically injured: Lau Ka-tung was sentenced for obstructing police work and an appeal is being filed. Chen Hung-sau, Jackie, was charged with rioting. Hui Lai-ming, Ming, was charged with assaulting police. Key, was beaten with batons by two policemen. Ho Sze-man and Lau Yin-tak received fixed penalty tickets issued by the police under the group gathering ban. Besides upholding righteousness in the protests, we have decided to pursue justice in the courts, so as to build the legitimacy and show the necessity of defending social justice in the streets.

Related cases of these six charged social workers

1) Lau Ka-tung – sentenced to a year in prison for obstructing police work. An appeal is being filed and legal aid has been sought for the appeal.

In the evening of 27 July 2019, Lau was arrested and hospitalised with multiple contusion injuries and a neck injury inflicted while communicating with the police and identifying himself with a social worker certificate to avoid unnecessary casualties during a demonstration. He was convicted and immediately sentenced to jail for a year for impeding police work and was denied bail. He was then granted bail in the High Court almost a week after his sentence and his appeal is pending. He is applying for legal aid for his appeal, but may be required to pay part of his legal fees even if legal aid is granted.

You may refer to the link below for information about Lau’s case

https://bit.ly/2YwUEOR

“…The social worker sector was in uproar and infuriated by Lau’s harsh sentence - a year of jail for impeding police work. Lau applied to the High Court for bail today, pending his appeal. Mr Justice Poon Siu-tung, in consideration of Lau’s statement, gave Lau temporary release on a HK$100,000 cash bail on the condition that he remains in Hong Kong, surrenders his travel documents and reports to police twice a week.”

https://hk.appledaily.com/local/20200623/MAEXX52UDMOKJTNV7FFKXDCAVM/

2) Chen Hung-sau, Jackie – charged with rioting (Granted legal aid but still has to bear the legal fee of around $300,000)

On 31 August 2019, a lawful public procession was claimed by the Government to be turned into a riot. Chen Hung-sau, Jackie, one of the members from the Battlefield Social Worker group, volunteered to monitor the abuse of police power through force and violence against citizens at the event. Liaising with the police, she advised them that instead of continual firing of tear gas, reasonable time should be allowed for citizens to leave the area, due to an overwhelming number of participants, via railway stations with limited services. However, Jackie was arrested during her duty as a “battlefield” social worker. Despite being restrained, she was still sprayed with pepper spray at close range and was surrounded by police shields, away from the press on-site. She was then charged with rioting and she will attend the hearing from 8th – 30th September 2020 at Wanchai District Court with other citizens who are also charged with rioting.

You may refer to the link below for information about Jackie’s case.

https://www.facebook.com/HKSocialWorkersGeneralUnion/posts/2339890339400038

“…Chen Hung-sau pointed out that although justice was said to be dead, it didn’t mean that we should give up. We should persist in upholding and fighting for justice in court. She was prepared mentally and psychologically that there was a chance of imprisonment if the ruling was unjust. “If it were the case, my imprisonment would become the evidence, a testimony of what was happening in our judiciary system,” said Chen. “It is absolutely reasonable that social workers are present where protests occur, so that justice can be upheld, human rights can be defended, and life can be protected.”“Above all, we have never done anything unlawful that should lead to arrests by the police.”

https://bit.ly/31d4DxT

3) Hui Lai-ming, Ming, a social worker, was charged with assaulting the police (She is unable to apply for legal aid at Magistrate’s Court and needs to pay the court fee)

On September 29, 2019, Hui was asked by the police to leave when providing support for arrestees in Queensway, Admiralty. She was arrested upon leaving. At first, she was accused of “illegal assembly”. Later, after being detained for 96 hours, she was brought to court and charged with “assaulting the police” under Section 63, Chapter 232 of the Police Force Ordinance. When she appeared in court on December 13, Barrister Douglas Kwok King-hin applied for a separate trial because her charge was different from the other 52 accused of rioting. The then acting chief magistrate So Wai-tak refused because he adopted the prosecutor’s opinion. As Hui’s charges did not meet the conditions to be referred to the District Court, on May 14, Barrister Kwok once again demanded that Hui’s charge of “assaulting the police” be separated, which Magistrate Law Tak-chuen had to approve. Hui will go to court again on July 2 to fix a trial date. It is estimated that the trial will take three to five days.

Ming's arrest and the latest information can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/HKSocialWorkersGeneralUnion/posts/2398561433532928

“Hui Lai-ming, Ming, a social worker, was charged with assaulting the police, but the charge was normally a lighter sentence of up to 6 months and a fine of $5,000, according to the Police Force Ordinance. Therefore, the case will remain in the Magistrates' Court for trial and cannot be referred to the District Court. The case will be postponed until July 2 for the defendant’s answer. It was learned that Hui did not intend to plead guilty.”

https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/20200514/EAOK6H5HM2YGA7Y4YPSK4NOIN4/

4) Key, a social worker, was beaten by two policemen with batons (Private prosecution against police assault)

In the evening of October 31, 2019, a riot police officer suddenly ran towards an elderly woman in Civic Triangle, Prince Edward. Key was making a humanitarian appeal before he was suddenly attacked by batons. He lost about 300ml of blood, was left with 5 stitches and a wound of about 7cm long. Key decided to sue the two policemen through civil litigation. It is a prosecution for every Hongkonger, especially for each and every Hongkonger who has been harmed by police brutality.

Clip of the day when Key was attacked

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2366291117033275

The police officer(s) who attacked Key did not display the officer number(s) and the current system of police supervision also fails to effectively monitor the police. The situation of police’s abuse of force and brutality is becoming more and more atrocious. In order to make perpetrators pay for their own evil acts, we believe that it is necessary to file civil proceedings (including civil procedures and judicial reviews) against the perpetrators as soon as possible in the District Court, and even the High Court, to stop power abuse and demand justice.

5) Ho Sze-man and Lau Yin-tak, both social workers, were charged with “Prohibition on group gathering” (They refused to pay the fine for the restriction)

In the evening of May 8, 2020, a young female passer-by was stopped and searched. She then received a ticket charge and was petrified in tears. Ho and Lau, who were on Battlefield Social Worker duty, happened to pass by, so they stepped forward to provide emotional support, but they were also stopped and searched. Ho and Lau asked in return whether merely passing by could violate the prohibition regulation. The policemen claimed that they would not answer them. Instead, they yelled at them while shaking their pepper spray cans in their hands in a menacing manner. In the end, even social workers who tried to support Hong Kong citizens were charged. It was a total infringement of civil rights.

What happened on that day

https://www.facebook.com/165937923461968/posts/2884760321579701?d=n&sfns=mo

Personal testimony of unreasonable arrests

https://www.facebook.com/HKSocialWorkersGeneralUnion/videos/259711221815991?vh=e&d=n&sfns=mo

Donation method

GoGetFunding: https://assets.gogetfunding.com/battlefieldswfunding01

The crowdfunding goal is HK$ 3,300,000. About HK$ 200,000 of it will be the administration fee paid to the crowdfunding platform and credit card companies. The funding will be managed by lawyers representing multiple social workers and will only be used on litigation expenses. If there are surpluses, after careful deliberation of the six social workers and their lawyers, the amount will be used for litigation purpose on other social workers who are prosecuted while they are upholding justice or protecting citizens, or on citizens who are prosecuted during the anti-extradition movement.

Other information of Battlefield Social Workers

"Putting the core values of social work into practice during the turbulent times of Hong Kong - the start of Battlefield social workers "

https://www.facebook.com/686140493/posts/101636466...

The Other China Emergency

Hong Kong’s courts long provided assurances of some transparency, even equity. For how much longer?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/hong-kong-china-protest-riot-justice/608281/

The perilous role of Hong Kong’s ‘battlefield’ social workers: ‘How could I not do this?’

https://hongkongfp.com/2020/06/12/the-perilous-role-of-hong-kongs-battlefield-social-workers-how-could-i-not-do-this/