There was a big riot in Hong Kong in 2019 when people broke into the city council. Twelve people were found guilty of rioting and given jail terms of up to almost seven years each by a Hong Kong court.
IN SHORT
Hong Kong Court Seeks to Jail 12 Pro-Democracy Protesters
- A Hong Kong court has sentenced 12 people to up to seven years for storming the city’s legislature in 2019.
- The storming was a significant part of pro-democracy protests challenging the Beijing-backed government.
- The protests, which took place on July 1, 2019, saw hundreds of protesters smashing windows and spraying graffiti on the 22nd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China
- 14 people were charged with rioting, criminal damage, and entering the legislative chamber.
- Twelve were sentenced to between six and a half and seven years in prison after being earlier convicted of rioting.
- The actual jail terms will be slightly shorter, ranging from 54 to 82 months, after reductions for various reasons, including guilty pleas.
- The protesters committed “insulting and provocative” acts such as tearing up copies of Hong Kong’s constitutional text and displaying colonial-era flags.
- A later abandoned government bill that would have permitted the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China was the catalyst for the protests, which grew into a widespread movement with more fundamental demands, such as universal suffrage for voting for lawmakers and city council members.
On the evening of July 1, 2019, which marked the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s reestablishment in China, hundreds of demonstrators stormed into the legislature, defacing artwork and destroying furniture. Some individuals covered the territory’s emblem on a wall with spray paint and defaced the chamber with slogans before fleeing the area as paramilitary police evacuated the area with tear gas before entering.
A prior conviction for disturbance was held against the twelve defendants, which included former student leader Althea Suen, actor Gregory Wong, and activists Ventus Lau and Owen Chow. A number of them were convicted of additional charges that were related.
Additionally, the case encompassed two reporters who had been acquitted of the disturbance charge beforehand but were found guilty of unauthorized entry into the legislature. Each individual received a sanction of $1,000 Hong Kong dollars ($128) and $1,500 Hong Kong dollars ($192).
Judicial Li Chi-ho imposed prison terms that varied from 4 1/2 to 6 years and 10 months, contingent upon the gravity of the offenders’ actions and mitigating circumstances.
“The large number of protesters, the intensity, the unique constitutional status of the Legislative Council, and the intention to weaken the significance of the (Hong Kong) government are insulting,” according to him.
Last month, actor Wong submitted a letter to the court in which he stated that his arrest and conviction had severely disrupted his 12-year-old acting career.
Achieved not guilty of disturbance but convicted of “entering or remaining within the chamber’s precincts,” student reporter Wong Ka-ho and online media reporter Ma Kai-chung were fined HK$1,500 ($292) and HK$1,000 ($194), respectively.
In 2019, over 10,200 individuals were apprehended in connection with the disturbances.
Police statistics indicate that 2,937 of those individuals were charged with offenses such as disturbance, unlawful assembly, and criminal damage.
The implementation of the law, according to the Hong Kong government, assisted in restoring stability to the city following the significant protests of 2019. However, a considerable number of the city’s most prominent activists have evaded legal consequences by escaping abroad.