Hong Kong, China:
Veteran Hong Kong activists went on trial Tuesday for organising one of the most significant democracy protests to engulf the city in 2019, aspect of a sweeping crackdown targeting Beijing’s critics.
The nine defendants involve some of the city’s most prominent pro-democracy campaigners, several of whom are staunch non-violence advocates who have spent decades campaigning in vain for universal suffrage.
Among them are Martin Lee, an 82-year-old barrister who was after selected by Beijing to aid create Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and Margaret Ng, a 73-year-old barrister and former opposition lawmaker.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, at the moment in custody immediately after his arrest beneath Beijing’s new national safety law, is also amongst these on trial.
Others are major members of the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), the coalition that organised a series of massive rallies all through 2019.
They every face up to 5 years in jail if convicted.
As they entered court on Tuesday, some of the activists flashed a 3-finger salute, a symbol now made use of across Asia to protest authoritarianism.
The group is getting prosecuted for organising an unauthorised assembly on August 18, 2019 — one of the most significant in Hong Kong that year as persons took to the streets for seven straight months calling for democracy and higher police accountability.
Organisers estimated 1.7 million persons turned out — pretty much one in 4 Hong Kong residents — although that quantity was complicated to independently confirm.
Those involved described it as the second-biggest protest of 2019, with demonstrators marching peacefully for hours beneath a sea of umbrellas and thundery skies.
“Assembly not a crime”
At the commence of Tuesday’s trial — which is anticipated to final 10 days — all except two defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Veteran dissident Leung Kwok-hung, who has previously been jailed for his activism, shouted “Assembly is not a crime, oppose political prosecution” as he pleaded not guilty.
Former CHRF convenor Au Nok-hin pleaded guilty to two charges of organising and taking aspect in an unlawful assembly whilst former lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung pleaded guilty to taking aspect in the march but not guilty to organising it.
Protests in Hong Kong can only go ahead with the permission of authorities and rights groups have lengthy criticised the use of unauthorised assembly prosecutions.
In their opening statement, prosecutors accused the group of defying police directions that day and encouraging crowds to march across Hong Kong’s principal island, bringing website traffic disruption.
Since 2019, protests have been all but outlawed with authorities either refusing permission on safety grounds or later simply because of the pandemic.
The rallies in 2019 typically descended into clashes amongst riot police and a knot of hardcore participants, and posed the most concerted challenge to China’s rule considering the fact that the former British colony’s 1997 handover.
The movement sooner or later fizzled out beneath the combined weight of exhaustion, some 10,000 arrests and the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.
Authorities have considering the fact that unleashed a broad crackdown and Beijing has imposed a new safety law which criminalises a great deal dissent.
China and Hong Kong’s leaders say the law is necessary to restore stability to the finance hub.
Critics counter that Beijing has shredded the liberties and autonomy it promised Hong Kong could preserve immediately after the handover.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)