Coronavirus: eight Hong Kong opposition activists get suspended jail sentences over breach of ban on public gathering

Ruling marks first protest-related conviction under regulation outlawing the gathering of more than four people in public

Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong says the right to stage protests is not absolute and government is entitled to restrict individual freedom on public health grounds

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(From left) Mak Tak-ching, Kwok Wing-kin, Raphael Wong, Tsang Kin-shing appear at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts in Sai Wan Ho on Wednesday. Photo: Winson Wong’

Published: 10:58pm, 10 Mar 2021Updated: 11:44pm, 10 Mar 2021

Eight opposition activists were given suspended jail sentences on Wednesday after a court convicted them of breaching a government ban on public gatherings during a Labour Day protest in Hong Kong last year.

Eastern Court Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong ruled the restriction was lawful in quelling the Covid-19 pandemic.

In upholding the legality of the prosecution, Cheang said the right to stage protests was not absolute and the government was entitled to restrict individual freedom on public health grounds, especially given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic.

He went on to jail the eight for two weeks, but suspended the terms for 18 months, adding they had wilfully disobeyed the law and misled the general public into believing what they did could be tolerated.

(From Left) Raphael Wong, Mak Tak-ching, Avery Ng, Kwok Wing-kin appear at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts in Sai Wan Ho on Wednesday. Photo: Winson Wong

The ruling marked the first protest-related conviction under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation, which took effect on March 29 last year outlawing the gathering of more than four people in public.