A prominent rights group responsible for some of Hong Kong’s biggest protests in recent years staged an act of defiance on New Year’s Day for the first time in 12 months – albeit on a much smaller scale – holding a mobile mini protest atop a van calling for the release of “political prisoners”. The three-person demonstration, aimed at bypassing the city’s ban on gatherings amid the pandemic , was organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, which has seen its applications for events repeatedly rejected by police over the past year due to coronavirus concerns and fears that peaceful demonstrations would be hijacked by radical elements. The front is the group behind the city’s annual July 1 march , as well as three massive 2019 protests against the since-withdrawn extradition bill that drew hundreds of thousands of participants into the streets. By comparison, Friday’s show of solidarity with jailed activists was minuscule, but was nonetheless heavily scrutinised by police – who had already planned to break up any gatherings on January 1 that threatened to turn into protests. “Free Hong Kong political prisoners,” Figo Chan Ho-wun, the front’s convenor, chanted from the roof of a white van parked outside its first stop, the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre. “We demand the release of all political prisoners, including civil rights activists in mainland China and Hongkongers, as well as the comrades detained behind us [in Lai Chi Kok],” said Chan, who himself faces a raft of public order charges accumulated over the past two years. Chan was joined on Friday by veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan atop the van, which was flanked on either side by banners reading “free all political prisoners”. Lee called out messages of support to protesters and political figures inside the reception centre across the road, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying , who was returned to custody by the Court of Final Appeal on Thursday to await trial on money-laundering and national security law charges. “We will hold on together. We can’t visit you now, but we hope you hear our voice,” Lee said. Hong Kong police to be ‘out in force’ on New Year’s Eve and Day to curb protests The creative protest was designed to get around a ban on gatherings of more than two, put in place by authorities to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Activists have argued police have used the ban to stifle freedom of assembly, refusing to grant permission for protests even at times where the infection count seemed to ease. The front had previously said earlier this week that it would replace its annual full-scale New Year’s march with the lower-key van event due to its own concerns over coronavirus cross infection, though it still hoped to “pile pressure on the authorities”. After departing from Lai Chi Kok, the group next headed to Tsim Sha Tsui, before ending at the Legislative Council complex at Admiralty, an iconic gathering place for anti-government protesters. Banners calling for the release of prisoners signed by supporters were also planned to be put up across the city. Police ban National Day anti-government march planned by Civil Human Rights Front Chan said they had been in contact with police, and were told their demonstration should not cause a problem, as the ban did not cover people in vehicles. But shortly after they began chanting slogans at Lai Chi Kok, a group of uniformed officers arrived to join the dozen plain-clothes police already at the scene. More than once, they accused the three men – Chan, Lee and the front’s deputy convenor, Sam Yip Kam-lung – of violating the ban on gatherings, Chan said. They were also asked to turn down the volume of their speaker. After arriving at Legco, they were again warned by police officers that they had violated social-distancing rules because they were yelling slogans from the vehicle and attending an event of a political nature, according Chan. Since the extradition bill sparked massive waves of protests in June, 2019, police have arrested more than 10,000 people in connection with the movement, more than 3,000 of whom have been prosecuted. For much of 2020, police took a more pre-emptive approach, deploying officers to curb any would-be assemblies before they could gather momentum, and citing the pandemic as part of the reasons for forbidding large gatherings. But Chan, from the front, said they would continue to apply for permission to protest despite past rejections by police. “The front will continue to fight for our rights to demonstrate and assemble. We will not give up just because we know police will reject us,” he said. Additional reporting by Tony Cheung