Two members of the League of Social Democrats - including a sitting legislator - were found guilty yesterday of assaulting a police officer.

Legislator Leung Kwok-hung and fellow League member Andrew To Kwan-hang were released on bail after the hearing at Eastern Court. They will be sentenced on January 16.

The two were charged with assaulting police officers during a protest outside Government House on December 29, 2007.

As part of the protest, they burned newspapers inside a tire. A police officer put out the fire but the duo restarted it.

Police officer Lee Kung-tai earlier told the court that he felt To shove him when he tried to extinguish the fire inside the tire a second time. He said Leung then pushed him down and he knocked his head on the ground.

At the time of the protest, National People's Congress Standing Committee's deputy secretary-general Qiao Xiaoyang was delivering a speech inside Government House on the central government's stance on universal suffrage.

In finding the pair guilty, Magistrate Rickie Chan Kam-cheong said they should not have gotten involved in physical conflict with police officers regardless of their motives.

Chan said it was the officer's job to put out the fire, that the response was appropriate to the demonstration and that police had no intention of quashing the assembly.

To said he is considering whether to appeal but will continue to participate in protests in the future.

A legislator sentenced to a month imprisonment or more may be expelled from the legislature with a motion passed by a two-thirds majority. If the sentence is three months or longer, endorsement by the legislature is not necessary.

(HK Edition 12/12/2008 page1)