Eight people have been jailed for up to three years and nine months over rioting and breaching anti-mask laws at a lunchtime protest in Central during the anti-extradition unrest in 2019.
Joseph Ng, Chan Wai-chung, Chan Tun-ham, Kevin Li, Choi Yee-lok, Lam Mui-wa, Henry Chan and Leung Sing-yin appeared at West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Saturday. Chan Wai-chung, Choi and Lam pleaded guilty before the trial began last May, while the remaining five pleaded not guilty and were convicted in December, The Witness reported.
The eight defendants were charged with rioting in Central in the vicinity of Pedder Street, Des Voeux Road Central and Connaught Road Central on November 12, 2019. At the time, the city was months into protests and unrest sparked by a controversial amendment to its extradition bill. The defendants were also accused of using facial coverings during an unlawful assembly, an offence under emergency laws that banned people from covering their faces at protests.
Deputy District Judge Pang Leung-ting said protesters lit fires and threw objects during the riot, which he described as “not the most severe but still considered serious,” The Witness reported. He said the riot lasted three hours and halted traffic in the area, and that there were over a thousand people at the scene at its peak.
Pang announced a four-year jail term as the starting point for all of the defendants, and discounted it by three months considering that they had a clear record and a low chance of re-offending. For the three who pleaded guilty to rioting, Pang took a quarter off the jail term to arrive at a sentence of two years and nine months.
The judge did not proceed with the facial covering charge against the trio. A possession of dangerous drugs charge for Chan and a possession of items with intent to destroy property charge for Choi were also left on file, meaning the prosecution cannot pursue them without the judge’s permission.
The five who pleaded not guilty were convicted on the rioting and facial covering charges and sentenced to three years and nine months in jail each.
Defence mitigation
Ahead of sentencing, the defence said in mitigation that their clients faced mental distress because of their arrests and that some of their careers had been affected.
Ng, an actor who has appeared in a number of local television shows and music videos, saw his contract with his agent terminated. A company also stopped running advertisements that he was in, his lawyer added.
The defence said that Chan Wai-chung resigned from his job at a French restaurant because of the court case and had been diagnosed with Graves disease, an autoimmune disorder, amid the pressure he faced.
Li, who worked in social services at the time of his offence, lost his social work license, his lawyer said. Another defendant, Leung, was put on no-pay leave by the school he taught at. He later quit and opened a tutorial centre for children from low-income families, his lawyer told the court.
Hong Kong saw large-scale and sometimes violent protests from the summer of 2019, with demonstrations taking place across the city during the months-long movement, including during busy lunchtimes in Central where many offices are located.
The protests eased amid the Covid-19 outbreak and Beijing’s imposition of a national security law. Over 10,250 protest-related arrests were made during the demonstrations, police said. The Security Bureau told HKFP in February that among them, over 2,900 people have been charged, while the rest of the cases are still pending police investigation.
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