Joshua Wong says party will send ‘most capable’ candidates even if jail keeps him out of by-elections

Key student leader in Occupy protests ‘not in despair’ despite possible prison term looming

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(From left) Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Lester Shum attend a protest in support of 13 protesters who were jailed on Tuesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 9:35am, 17 Aug 2017Updated: 1:32pm, 18 Aug 2017

Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has said his party will send its “most capable” members to run in the coming elections should he end up being jailed after an appeal court ruling on Thursday.

The Demosisto secretary general also stressed that recent events had not caused him to lose faith in social movements, despite 13 other activists – originally spared jail due to their “noble cause”– being sentenced to prison by the same court on Tuesday.

“[I am] absolutely not in despair, absolutely not lost,” he said on Thursday.

Wong and two fellow former student activists – Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang – were convicted of either taking part or inciting others to take part in an unlawful assembly when protesters stormed the government headquarters on September 26, 2014. The demonstrators had wanted to reclaim what they called “Civic Square”, an area popular with protesters. That was a prelude to the Occupy protests, the 79-day pro-democracy sit-ins which kicked into full gear two days later.

Joshua Wong after the start of the Occupy protests in 2014. Photo: Dickson Lee

The three were originally spared jail and given various lengths of community service. Presiding magistrate June Cheung Tin-ngan took a lenient and understanding attitude towards the young trio, who she said held genuine political ideals.