Obeying the law preserves freedoms

People who break the law should be prepared to face legal consequences. Those involved in the unlawful Occupy protests in 2014 were well aware of that when they blocked the city’s streets for 79 days in the hope of pushing Beijing for more democracy. Last year, the three student leaders who had sparked off the blockade by occupying the government headquarters compound in Admiralty paid the price, although not as heavy as anticipated by some people. And when the appeal court on Thursday ruled in favour of the government and jailed the trio for between six and eight months – instead of the earlier community service orders and suspended imprisonment – the decision, unsurprisingly, aroused as much applause as outrage.

Court rulings on political events are bound to be divisive in the light of prevailing sentiments. Because the trio of young activists, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang, were popular, the decision aroused even more sympathy in some quarters. Whether the punishments are appropriate may well be a matter for the city’s highest court to further determine. Earlier, the government won another appeal to jail 13 young protesters who stormed the Legislative Council over a contentious development project three years ago. Officials say it is necessary to send out a clear message that unlawful and violent protests are not to be tolerated. But opponents see it as political persecution and warn of more radical actions in future.

In a strongly worded judgment, Court of Appeal vice-president Wally Yeung Chun-kuen said there was an unhealthy trend in which people openly despised the rule of law. Without naming anyone, he hit out at some educated people for advocating others to “violate the law to achieve justice”. He said not only did they refuse to admit their lawbreaking behaviour was wrong, they even saw their stance as something to be proud of. “Our society will descend into chaos ... If such a situation is not effectively curbed, all talk of freedom and the rule of law will be empty,” he said.