Intimidation amid anti-government demonstrations prompted by the rescinded extradition measure.
Four defendants were found guilty on Thursday by a Hong Kong court of inciting riots over the storming of the legislative council building in the city during the peak of anti-government demonstrations over four years ago.
One of the most tumultuous incidents of the widespread protests instigated by a rescinded extradition bill occurred on July 1, 2019, the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.
That evening, hundreds of demonstrators stormed the legislature, breaking furniture and scribbling on pictures. After riot police used tear gas to clear the surrounding streets, others vandalized the territory’s symbol on a wall and spray-painted slogans inside the chamber before leaving.
As the court previously heard, the legislature ultimately paid roughly 36 million Hong Kong dollars ($6.1 million Cdn) to fix the damages.
In 2023, six defendants entered not guilty pleas to charges of rioting, including actor Gregory Wong and two reporters, Wong Ka-ho and Ma Kai-chung.
After demonstrators storm and vandalise the legislative, riot police reclaim the chamber.
China denounces the violent protestors in Hong Kong
Gregory Wong was among the four defendants out of the six who were convicted guilty of rioting on Thursday by Judge Li Chi-ho. Ma and Wong Ka-ho were found guilty of breaking the law by entering the legislature, but they were cleared of the rioting allegation.
Li stated in his written ruling that everyone was to be asked to leave. “I can’t see how the defence can distort the meaning of the word and exclude journalists from ‘everyone,” ‘ he stated.
He continued by saying that Wong Ka-ho had the “wrong idea” to believe that reporters could remain there to record the events.
Gregory Wong said throughout the trial that he arrived at the location to give a reporter chargers. The judge, however, refuted his claims, claiming that he had given a supporter a hug before exiting the chamber.
“His intention of entering the legislature is obvious, it is to join this riot,” he stated.
Prior to his conviction on Thursday for rioting and a related allegation of criminal damage, the court heard that Lam Kam-kwan, the defendant, had been imprisoned in mainland China in August 2019 and had been coerced into writing a letter of contrition. Lam claimed that after they met, a few Hong Kong police officers that he would not be allowed to go back to the city if he did not acknowledge his transgression. The police denied that Lam had been threatened.
