The incident happened around 8pm on August 6, 2020. The jobless 34-year-old lit fire at a paper box and left it by one of the water-filled barriers, damaging government's property.

A female police officer who was heading to the station caught him committing the crime. She arrested him and brought him inside the station.

The man, under police caution, said, “I want to burn the whole station to the ground, and I will even detonate bombs and kill you all!”

“I hate the police very badly, that's why I set the fire to burn this place down,” the man also said.

In court he pleaded guilty to a count of arson. Defense in mitigation said his metal state was not stable and he foolishly thought he could quit drugs by getting arrested and being sent to prison.

The risk of setting fire by the barrier is low and the man didn't commit the crime for any political agenda, the defense added.

However District Judge Clement Lee Hing-nin pointed out that the man committed similar crime twice before, according to records, and his act also threatened the lives of law enforcement officers.

Lee said he must hand down a sentence with deterrent effect and therefore put the man behind bars for 32 months.