Hong Kong protests: 8 jailed for up to 56 months for rioting near Polytechnic University
- Defendants include YouTuber with law degree and company manager who has cancer-stricken wife to take care of
- Judge says he feels ‘difficult and reluctant’ condemning defendants to incarceration, noting they were not heinous criminals
The eight men and women who were sentenced in the District Court on Friday were prosecuted over their roles in the chaos that broke out less than 1km to the east of Polytechnic University in Kowloon on the night of November 18, 2019.
The defendants included a YouTuber with a law degree, a company manager who had a cancer-stricken wife to care for, and a university student who is the heir to a dried seafood grocery chain in the city.
Judge Ernest Michael Lin Kam-hung said he felt “difficult and reluctant” condemning the defendants to incarceration, noting they were not heinous criminals and had committed the offences under the influence of the then “febrile” social environment and “individual scholars and public figures” who advocated pursuing justice through breaking the law.
But Lin stressed the riot in question had wreaked havoc in the heart of a bustling city and each of the accused must shoulder responsibility as mature adults.
“Although the social system is imperfect, mere destruction without plans to build would only make life difficult for modern-day people,” the judge said.
The court heard thousands of protesters had assembled along a section of Nathan Road between Gascoigne Road and Jordan Road that night, in the hope of breaking a police siege of Polytechnic University, which earlier became a protesters’ stronghold.