2019 protests: Final 8 Hongkongers charged over rioting near PolyU siege jailed for up to 4.5 years
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong court has sentenced the last eight protesters who were charged with rioting near the Polytechnic University when it was under police siege in 2019. They were handed up to four-and-a-half years in jail, with a police officer in charge of the prosecution calling the case “unprecedented.”
The PolyU campus siege in November 2019 saw intense clashes between police and protesters, with large groups of protesters also gathered in the vicinity in an effort to break through a police blockade.
213 people were arrested near Nathan Road in Yau Ma Tei on the night of November 18 and later charged with rioting. The group had been split into 17 court cases, with proceedings lasting more than two years.
Deputy District Judge Peony Wong on Monday handed down jail terms ranging from 50 to 54 months to the last eight protesters from the group. The eight defendants were found guilty in May after a trial, while three others were found not guilty.
Twelve defendants pleaded guilty ahead of trial last December and were later sentenced to 36 to 40 months in jail.
Speaking outside the courthouse after sentencing, police superintendent Wong Yick-lung said in Cantonese: “This is an unprecedented case. The number of people arrested, the scale, and the complications involved had presented great challenges to us.”
He said the first trial of the group began in April 2022, with the court having summoned over 500 witnesses and examined over 5,000 pieces of evidence since then.
Of the 213 people charged, 189 were handed jail terms ranging from 29 to 64 months, while 11 minors were sentenced to correctional training.
Six were acquitted while seven had absconded.
The superintendent said residents must abide by the law when they exercise their rights to assembly and freedom of speech.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Protesters carried ‘defensive items’
Judge Wong said in her judgement that the protesters were “well-prepared” for the unrest given the equipment they carried, such as helmets and gas masks.
The riot lasted for 45 minutes and four police officers sustained non-critical injuries, she said, adding that protesters broke the peace by hurling petrol bombs in a dense neighbourhood.
Although the defendants were not proven to have committed such acts, they were found to have carried defensive items during their arrests, she said, making four-and-a-half years the starting point for sentencing.
Lau Sze-ki, Leung Kin-long and So Ting-nam received a four-month reduction and were each given a four year, two month, jail term.
Alan Lam received a three-month reduction while Tsieh Shing-fung and Fung Man-kit were given a two-month reduction.
James Lam and Tam Kai-chung did not receive any discount on their sentences.
Police have arrested over 10,000 people in relation to the 2019 protests and prosecuted almost 3,000 of them. 842 were charged for rioting, with 655 convicted and 83 acquitted as of June this year, according to a tally by The Witness.
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