A closely watched trial involving 13 people who stormed Hong Kong’s legislature during pro-democracy protests in 2019 began yesterday with seven people pleading guilty to a rioting charge.
On July 1 that year, hundreds of protesters stormed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) building after a protest march against a proposed extradition bill that would have allowed authorities to send individuals to mainland China for trial.
The protesters smashed glass and furniture, destroyed pictures and daubed walls with graffiti. While many of the protesters fled the scene without being arrested, local police later identified scores of them, including some of the 13 now on trial.
File photo: Reuters
Rioting is punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
The seven who pleaded guilty included Althea Suen (孫曉嵐), former president of the University of Hong Kong’s student union, and pro-democracy activist Ventus Lau (劉穎匡).
“I have never regretted fighting for freedom, justice, and democracy from the beginning to the end,” Suen wrote on Facebook before the trial began.
“In 2023, I am in Hong Kong, in prison, but my mind remains free,” she said.
Six people pleaded not guilty, including actor Gregory Wong (王宗堯), and two reporters, Wong Ka-ho (黃家豪) and Ma Kai Chung (馬啟聰).
The six face additional charges of unlawful entry into the legislature and criminal damage, which carries a maximum life sentence.
The trial is expected to last for 44 days.
“There is an end to all good and bad things,” Wong told reporters outside the court. “No matter what the outcome, I think it’s possible to be brave.”
More than 10,200 protesters were arrested in connection to Hong Kong’s anti-government, pro-democracy protests in 2019 over the since-withdrawn extradition bill, posing one of the biggest challenges to Chinese Communist Party leaders since Beijing’s Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
About 2,900 have been prosecuted on charges linked to the protests so far.
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