Men wear bra to protest woman’s breast assault conviction

The demonstrators gathered in support of a Hong Kong woman who was sentenced to three-and-a-half months jail for using her breast to bump a police officer during a protest.

Hundreds of protestors dressed in bras took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday to protest the conviction of a woman who was jailed for assaulting a senior police officer with her breast.

Retired teacher James Hon, 66, wearing a pink bra over his white polo shirt, told AFP: “It’s the first time to wear a bra in my entire life”.

According to Channel Asia News, a topless man wearing a black bra was heard warning the crowd: ‘We better watch out as one day police might accuse us of attacking with our penis or buttock.’. They were also holding banners which read “Breasts are not weapons” and “Shame on Police”.

The protesters are looking highly disappointed with deputy magistrate’s decision of convicting the 30-year-old Ng Lai-ying claiming that she attacked on the cop’s right hand with her breast when he was trying to tackle with the protests against cross-border traders on March 1. She was bailed pending an appeal.

Lai-ying’s arrest, and the circulated photos of her bloody face during the protest, caused online outrage as newsfeeds were flooded with photos of supporters featuring their – mostly clothed – chests in solidarity.

“The ruling is absurd”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Kit Ling, the chairperson of the association for the advancement of Feminsim in Hong Kong said, ‘We think it’s very problematic.

Giving an explanation for her indecent assault, Ng Lai-ying said, “I did it because, Chan’s hand was landed on my left breast, after he failed to grab the strap of my bag”.

Since the pro-democracy protests that spread across the city during the Occupy Central movement, the Hong Kong police force has experienced a dip in popularity. “How can breasts be a weapon?” said activist Ng Cheuk-ling, saying she feared it would deter women from taking part in political protest.

But magistrate Michael Chan Pik- kiu said, “she used her female identity to trump up the allegation that the officer had molested her”, and opined it was literally to harm Chan’s reputation.

The protest Lai-ying attended had been against mainland Chinese shoppers who come to Hong Kong to buy tax-free goods, which they later resell back home.