The British Foreign Office, the European Union, and United Nations human rights experts have all expressed concern over the arrests, related to a series of marches that took place in Causeway Bay on August 18, and in Central on October 1 and October 20.

Speaking before the hearing, Lee Cheuk-yan said “the root of the disturbance” was the undermining of local freedoms by Beijing and city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

“What is on trial here is the human rights of Hong Kong. We are all on trial,” his co-defendant Leung Kwok-hung added.

Among the 58 charges the group faces are organising an unauthorised assembly, and knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly, which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Previously, Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan, Leung, Cyd Ho and Figo Chan were told by police they would face a charge of making an announcement of an unauthorised public procession, an offence that carries a sentence of up to 12 months, over the protests in October.

The incitement charge they face carries a maximum sentence of five years.

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Apart from Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai, the 10 others include incumbent lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung, ex-legislators Sin Chung-kai, Yeung Sum, Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, Au Nok-hin, and activists Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, Raphael Wong Ho-ming and Avery Ng Man-yuen.

In court, some of the defendants voiced discontent with the proceedings and chanted slogans when asked by the court clerk if they understood the charges they were facing.

Avery Ng said: “I don’t understand why we were the only people prosecuted among millions of protesters.” He also claimed their prosecution was politically motivated, and that the justice department had turned a blind eye to what he called police violence against protesters during last year’s anti-government movement.

Au also criticised the fact the charges were derived from colonial-era legislation that he said contravened the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The 15 defendants left court amid a standing ovation from dozens of people who attended the hearing, many of whom chanted “five demands, not one less” and “civil disobedience without fear”.

Principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen adjourned the proceedings to June 15 to allow prosecutors time to prepare legal documents to transfer the cases to the District Court. He granted each of the defendants bail.

After the hearing, Lee Cheuk-yan, who is also chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, the group responsible for the city’s annual June 4 Tiananmen crackdown commemoration, said he would fight on to exercise freedom of assembly despite the government’s coronavirus-driven restrictions on public gatherings.