Former lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan and activist Raphael Wong Ho-ming were jailed for 14 months, while ex-lawmaker Yeung Sum and activist Avery Ng Man-yuen were ordered to serve 11 months and one year behind bars, respectively.

All except Wong were already serving jail sentences tied to previous unauthorised rallies organised by the front.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Amanda Woodcock said an immediate prison term was only appropriate given the criminal and violent acts committed by hardcore protesters, whose presence had been anticipated by the leaders of the march before it commenced.

“There was no concern for causing the most serious and indiscriminate obstruction in one of the busiest areas of Hong Kong,” Woodcock said.

“There may have been an emphasis on maintaining peace in numbers despite or in spite of the presence of violent protesters, but in my view, in such volatile times, this was essentially paying lip service to the expression. They deliberately turned a blind eye to public order being jeopardised.

“These charges do involve an unauthorised assembly, but it does not mean I cannot take into account the criminal and violent acts committed by those who were with the unauthorised assembly and procession. The evidence shows that the line between peaceful assembly and conduct which disrupts public order was crossed.”

Woodcock ordered the sentences imposed on everyone but Wong to be run concurrently with their existing jail terms. Cyd Ho, who was already serving a one-year term, will now spend two more months behind bars, while the other defendants’ previous jail sentences will remain effectively unchanged.

An estimated 350,000 people defied a police ban in attending the October 20 rally, marching from Salisbury Garden in Tsim Sha Tsui to the West Kowloon terminus on Austin Road, the court was told.

The participants called for the abolition of a government ban on wearing masks at public gatherings, the establishment of an independent committee of inquiry into the protests and a reorganisation of the police force.

Some protesters vandalised a police station, traffic lights, shops, restaurants, banks and train stations along the way, with repair costs and losses amounting to HK$7.3 million (US$937,260).

In the previous hearing on August 19, Chan, Leung, Cyd Ho and Albert Ho pleaded guilty to one count of incitement to knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly.

Chan, Leung and Cyd Ho also admitted a second count of organising an unauthorised assembly along with Wong, Ng and Yeung. The prosecution agreed to drop a further charge of knowingly taking part in an unauthorised rally against the six given their guilty pleas.

Prior to Wednesday’s judgment, Chan and Albert Ho were already serving 18 months for incitement and organisation of an unauthorised assembly on Hong Kong Island on October 1, 2019. Ng was serving a 14½-month stretch for organising and taking part in that rally, while Yeung got 14 months for also organising the event.

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Leung and Cyd Ho, who admitted charges arising from both the October 1 rally and a separate unauthorised protest on August 18 of the same year, were already serving sentences of 22 months and one year, respectively.

In a statement, Ng said his prosecution was politically motivated and questioned how much freedom Hongkongers really enjoyed when the government suppressed opposition voices in the name of security.

“Actions that would have previously, and sometimes rightly, merited community service or fines just a few short years ago, now lead to the possibility of jail,” the activist said, referring to offences relating to unauthorised assemblies. “Where once there was the space to disagree agreeably and debate ideas honestly. Now there is intolerance.”

Activist Samuel Chu, former managing director of the US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, slammed Wednesday’s ruling as “part of the ongoing attack on the freedom of assembly, freedom of association and freedom of expression”.