A tourist from the mainland was arrested on Saturday for scrawling graffiti on seven sites in Taipa’s cultural heritage buffer zone, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheuk Kou Chi said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The male suspect surnamed Chen is in his sixties. Chen, who holds an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (colloquially known as a Two-Way Permit), told the police that he is jobless.
According to Cheuk, a security guard told Public Security Police (PSP) officers who were patrolling near the Carmo Auditorium in Calçada do Quartel on Saturday morning that the wall of the auditorium was covered in graffiti.
Thanks to CCTV footage, PSP officers discovered that Chen used a marker pen to write Chinese characters expressing his dissatisfaction with politics at seven locations in Taipa between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. that day. Police officers intercepted Chen on the same day. Chen told the police that he travelled to Macau and hoped to promote Chinese culture. He did not know that what he did was illegal.
Cheuk said that the other six sites defaced by graffiti were a bus stop in Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança, pavilions and security guard booths in Taipa Village, the Museum of Taipa and Coloane History in Rua Correia da Silva, the external wall of a boutique in Rua do Cunha, a bus stop in Rua da Ponte Negra, and a transformer box in Rua da Ponte Negra.
PSP officers have notified power utility CEM, the boutique and related government entities – the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), and Transport Bureau (DSAT). The government entities and CEM have told the police that they would sue the culprit, while the boutique said it would refrain from taking legal action.
Chen was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing charges of causing aggravated property damage.
This handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows a PSP officer escorting the graffiti suspect to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) in Nape on Monday.
