Activists fined for Hotel Estoril trespassing

The controversial banner (left) that led to the accusations

The previous president of the New Macau Association (ANM), Scott Chiang, and association member Alin Lam were fined after they were found guilty of trespassing the Hotel Estoril,  the Court of First Instance announced the judgment yesterday.

Chiang was fined MOP3,000 and Lam was fined MOP4,500. The two were found not guilty of damages.

In 2016, Chiang and Lam were accused of breaking and entering into Hotel Estoril. They allegedly hoisted a black banner on the hotel (owned by the Financial Services Bureau) with white characters in Chinese reading “Alexis Tam: Heritage Killer” to protest its demolition.

The defendants, accused of damages, and breaking and entering into a private property, claimed that the building was abandoned and this, like many similar cases, should have no criminal consequences.

The judge pointed out that the Hotel Estoril was locked with boarding and barbed wire, so that it was generally understood that the public were not free to enter the Hotel Estoril, and it is unreasonable for the defendant to argue that they were unclear on these facts.

The judge also noted that the court believes Chiang and Lam entered Hotel Estoril intentionally to film. Additionally, the judge said that it could not be confirmed that the two hoisted the banner. 

Reacting to the veredict outside the court, Scott Chiang acknowledged that the fine “isn’t a huge amount” but expressed his disagreement with the outcome of the case. “A lot of people have been in and out of the ruin of the hotel and none of them have seem so much trouble as we did. That tells us something,” Chiang said, adding that recently there were several cases brought against him and other activists. “We know that hanging a banner itself is not a crime. And what are they doing? You have to ask yourself.”

Chiang criticized the police for “trying to after the people behind the banner” and said that there’s “a symphony of retaliations going on in Macau” showing a tendency to “supresss voices that are unwanted.”