Hong Kong 'Umbrella Movement' leaders found guilty
April 9, 2019
A court in Hong Kong has found several leaders of the 2014 "Umbrella Movement" guilty of incitement. The pro-democracy protest movement brought parts of the China-ruled city to a standstill for weeks.
Image: Reuters/T. Siu
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A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found the top leaders of the "Umbrella Movement" guilty of conspiracy to commit public nuisance and incitement for their roles in the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations.
The trial has sparked concerns about the erosion of political freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
What we know so far:
Nine leaders of the protest were on trial, including a retired pastor, professors and student activists, as well as current and former lawmakers.
Eight members of the group were found guilty of incitement to commit public nuisance.
Five were found guilty of "incitement to incite" public nuisance.
The trial included rarely used colonial-era charges that carry jail terms of up to seven years — although no sentences were immediately handed down.
The judge in the case acknowledged that civil disobedience is "recognized in Hong Kong," but said that it wasn't an adequate defense to criminal charges.
'Continue the struggle for democracy'
One of the defendants, former student leader Tommy Cheung, 25, told DW the "helplessness" would not last: "Today is not the end, but a new beginning," he said.
Another activist on trial, 31-year-old Raphael Wong, appealed to Hong Kong's residents to keep pushing for democracy. "The hope lies in the people themselves. The smallest changes require protests," he told DW.
Fellow defendant Shiu Ka-chun, 50, said that the "sun would rise again" and reach every corner where democracy does not yet exist.
Ahead of the verdict, the campaigners vowed to continue pushing for democracy in Hong Kong, regardless of the trial's outcome.
"We will still continue our struggle for democracy," professor Benny Tai told Reuters news agency ahead of the verdict. "The reason that we committed civil disobedience is because we want justice for Hong Kong people."
The protests, which were spearheaded by three of the defendants in Tuesday's trial, called for free elections for Hong Kong's leader.
In 2013, former pastor Chu Yiu-ming, law professor Benny Tai, and sociology professor Chan Kin-man, founded the pro-democracy "Occupy Central" movement, which later joined with the student-led Umbrella Movement.
Over the course of the 79-day protests in 2014, mass demonstrations paralyzed Hong Kong's financial district and highlighted widespread frustration over the shrinking of the city's civil liberties.
Concerns over China's influence: Hong Kong enjoys a degree of autonomy and civil liberties that are protected under an agreement between Britain and China. Ever since the city returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997, rights groups have voiced concerns that those freedoms are being eroded under China's influence.
Hong Kong's 20-year history since handover
Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty twenty years ago, after 156 years of British rule. The territory's history during this time has been marked by numerous protests against mainland China and the SARS pandemic.
Image: Reuters/B. Yip
1997: Historic moment
The handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China took place on July 1, 1997. The territory on China's Pearl River Delta became a British colony in 1842 and was occupied by Japan during World War II. After Hong Kong's return to China, the political situation was described as "one country, two systems."
Image: Reuters/D. Martinez
1999: No family reunions
Divided families, who had been split by the Hong Kong border, had hoped to be reunited after the territory's return to China. But with a daily quota of only 150 mainland Chinese allowed to settle in Hong Kong, many were left disapointed. This photo from 1999 shows mainland Chinese visitors protesting outside Hong Kong's Legal Aid Department after they were denied residency permits.
Image: Reuters/B. Yip
2002: Dashed hopes
The residency issue flared up again in April 2002 when Hong Kong began deporting some 4,000 mainland Chinese who had lost legal battles to stay in the territory. These desperate families were evicted from a central park where they had been protesting.
Image: Reuters/K. Cheung
2003: The SARS pandemic hits
In 2003, the highly contagious SARS virus spread through Hong Kong. The territory was hard hit by the flu-like virus and in March, the WHO declared it a pandemic. This man attended Doctor Tse Yuen-man's funeral in May. Dr. Tse had volunteered to care for SARS patients and had contracted the virus herself. Hong Kong was declared SARS-free in June 2003. Almost 300 people had died of the disease.
Image: Reuters/B. Yip
2004: Rally for democracy
China's policy of "one country, two systems" has often created tension. In 2004, on the seventh anniversary of the handover, hundreds of thousands of people protested in Hong Kong, demanding political reform. They were calling for democracy and direct elections for Hong Kong's next leader.
Image: Reuters/B. Yip
2008: No place to live
Soaring property prices in Hong Kong forced rents higher. By 2008, it wasn't unusual to see people like Kong Siu-kau living in so-called "cage homes," 15-square-foot (1.4 square meters) wire mesh cubicles, eight of which were usually crammed into one room. Today an estimated 200,000 people call a wire cage, or a single bed in a shared apartment, home.
Image: Reuters/V. Fraile
2009: Remembering Tiananmen Square
On the twentieth anniversary of the government's brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square, Hong Kong residents gathered for a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park. It showed how different Hong Kong is from China, where the massacre of pro-democracy supporters and students on June 4, 1989, is usually only referred to as the June Fourth Incident.
Image: Reuters/A. Tam
2014: Occupy Central
Starting in September 2014, large-scale protests demanding more autonomy rocked Hong Kong for over two months. Beijing had announced that China would decide on the candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong's chief executive. The protests were referred to as the Umbrella Revolution, because protesters used umbrellas to fend off pepper spray and tear gas used by police.
Image: Reuters/T. Siu
2015: Sport becomes political
Less than a year after the Occupy Central protests ended, China played against Hong Kong in a soccer World Cup qualifiying match on November 17, 2015. The guests did not receive a friendly welcome in Hong Kong. Fans booed when the Chinese national anthem was played and held up posters saying "Hong Kong is not China." The match ended 0-0.
Image: Reuters/B. Yip
2016: Another bout of violence
In February 2016, Hong Kong's rough police tactics made headlines again. Authorities tried to remove illegal street vendors from a working-class Hong Kong neighborhood. They sent riot police, who used batons and pepper spray against protesters, and also fired live warning shots into the air. The street clashes were the worst since the Umbrella Revolution in 2014.
