Supporters of Liu Xiaobo plead not guilty to unlawful assembly
Six pro-democracy activists yesterday pleaded not guilty to unlawful assembly over a protest inside the central government's liaison office compound on Christmas Day.
The six - including Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China vice-chairman Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, former legislator 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung and activist Koo Sze-yiu - appeared in Eastern Court before Magistrate Anthony Yuen Wai-ming. They are to return to court for a pre-trial review of the case on April 22.
The six were part of a group that protested at the liaison office on December 25 against the 11-year sentence handed down to mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo .
Outside court yesterday, the activists and their supporters chanted slogans, decrying what they called a recent spate of political prosecutions. They displayed placards calling for the mainland government to free Liu.
Alliance chairman Szeto Wah said after the hearing that the alliance would organise a meeting on April 28 with activists who have been victims of 'political prosecution'.
Among those invited would be people associated with Citizens' Radio; members of the so-called post-1980s generation, people in their 20s who have been protesting against the construction of an express rail link to Guangzhou; and League of Social Democrats leader Andrew To Kwan-hang, Szeto said.
Meanwhile, Lee called for an explanation from the police regarding the allegation by an activist that a liaison office security officer cut her finger while she was protesting with the group on Christmas Day.
The woman, who works for the justice and peace commission of the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong, says she was protesting peacefully when the officer cut her with scissors. She lodged a complaint but police had not followed it up, she said.
The group headed to police headquarters in Wan Chai to demand answers after yesterday's hearing.
