Four people have been jailed for up to three years and nine months after they were convicted of rioting and other offences during the extradition bill protests and unrest in Hong Kong more than four years ago.
District Judge Edmond Lee on Tuesday put Lam Tsz-kiu, Lo Hung-yu, Jessie Tse and Wong Wing-sum behind bars. They had pleaded not guilty to the charge but were found guilty last week, local media reported.
The defendants, aged between 27 and 50, were said to have taken part in a riot near an intersection of Johnston Road and Fenwick Street in Wan Chai on November 2, 2019.
On that day, protests were staged in districts across Hong Kong including Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui. Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, while a water canon and an armoured vehicle were also deployed at some flash points.
Protesters had set barricades on fire and vandalised shops. Some also chanted anti-police slogans in response to the police presence.
Aside from rioting, Lo and Wong were convicted of possessing zip ties with an intent to destroy or damage property. Lam was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to flee Hong Kong between January 3 and February 16 last year, and also pleaded guilty to possessing radio communication devices without a license.
Among the four, Lam received the longest jail term of 45 months for her three offences. Local media reported that she told the court during her mitigation plea that she “did not feel any regret” during the two years she was held in custody while awaiting trial. She and the other defendants in the case were “people who genuinely cared about Hong Kong,” she said.
Her speech was interrupted by the judge, who said she was making a political statement and that this was not the purpose of the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, local media reported.
Lo received 35 months for the rioting charge and four months of imprisonment for possessing 10 zip ties. The judge ordered the jail terms to be served concurrently.
Tse, who was found with respirator filters and tape, was jailed for 34 months for rioting. Wong was handed 37 months in prison for rioting and a six-month jail term for possessing 596 zip ties. The court ordered Wong to serve his two jail terms concurrently.
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.”
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