Hong Kong protests: Jimmy Lai, 9 other prominent activists plead guilty to organising unauthorised National Day assembly

Former lawmakers and leaders of annual Tiananmen Square vigil among those charged over protest two years ago

Ahead of hearing, Democratic Party’s Albert Ho says he has ‘no regrets’ about potential jail term

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Democrat Albert Ho and former party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing hug outside the District Court in Wan Chai on Monday. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 12:46pm, 17 May 2021Updated: 11:59pm, 17 May 2021

Media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and nine other prominent opposition figures pleaded guilty on Monday to organising an unauthorised protest on National Day during the anti-government movement in Hong Kong two years ago.

His co-defendants included former lawmakers, veteran democrats and the head of a civil rights alliance behind many of the city’s highest-profile rallies. Six of them also pleaded guilty to related charges, with each count carrying up to five years’ imprisonment.

Several of the defendants were already either in jail or in custody over separate convictions or alleged offences.

Protesters hold an anti-government rally in Causeway Bay on the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China in 2019. Photo: Felix Wong

Prosecutor Priscilia Lam Tsz-ying told the District Court that the police had earlier rejected an application by the Civil Human Rights Front for permission to stage a rally in Causeway Bay and Central on October 1, 2019. The decision was upheld by the force’s appeal board, but several defendants encouraged people to take part in the demonstration, according to Lam.

Protesters threw bricks and firebombs and blocked major thoroughfares during “riotous incidents in the course of or after” the unauthorised assembly, she claimed.