World News – AU – Joshua Wong pleads guilty over 2019 Hong Kong protest

He and two other activists, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, were immediately arrested for unauthorized gathering. You will be sentenced next week.

HONG KONG – Joshua Wong, the pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong, along with two other activists, pleaded guilty on Monday to unauthorized charges against the gathering over a 2019 protest and was immediately detained after serving for a month Activists, journalists and politicians had arrested in the city.

Mr. . Wong was taken into custody by a court in West Kowloon District, along with Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, who were all members of the since-defunct group Demosisto, and will be sentenced next week.

The three were charged with unauthorized gathering during a demonstration in June 2019 when thousands of people surrounded police headquarters and requested an investigation into the use of force by officials.

They did not say why they pleaded guilty instead of fighting the charges. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Mr.. Wong wrote that the decision was made after examining the prosecution’s evidence and consulting with the lawyer.

Demosisto broke up shortly after Beijing imposed a strict national security law on Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese city, and pushed for an increasingly aggressive campaign against dissent.

woman. Chow and the founder of the city’s largest pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, are among the two dozen activists arrested under the national security law since it went into effect in late June.

Police have used more aggressive social distancing tactics and rules to contain an insistent protest movement. Eight pro-democracy lawmakers were arrested in November over a chaotic meeting held in the legislature in May. Hong Kong’s entire pro-democracy camp later left the legislature after Beijing approved the removal of four members of their group.

Mr. . Wong, who had previously spent three separate stays behind bars on two protests-related cases, said Monday he was ready to return to prison.

« The authorities may want me to stay in prison one term at a time, » he said before his trial. “But I am convinced that neither prison bars nor voting bans or other arbitrary powers would prevent us from activism. ”

Mr. . Wong pleaded guilty on Monday for instigating and organizing an unauthorized gathering for which he faces up to five years in prison. But he has maintained his innocence on a similar charge of attending an unauthorized gathering.

Mr. . The 24-year-old Wong became known as a youth leader during the Umbrella movement. Last year, days after he was released from prison, he spoke outside Hong Kong Police Department, where thousands had gathered. He criticized the authorities for holding a protest on Jan.. June called a riot outside the Hong Kong legislature.

Later that day, some protesters threw eggs in the headquarters and marked graffiti on the outside walls.

woman. Chow, 23, the Mr.. . Wong was also a key figure in the 2014 democracy-friendly umbrella movement, saying she was concerned about the prospect of jail time. She pleaded guilty in July of attending an unauthorized meeting and inducing others to attend that resulted from the case.

« If I am convicted, I will be in prison for the first time, » she wrote on Sunday in a Facebook post. “While I say that I’ve prepared myself mentally, I’m still a little scared. ”

Joshua Wong, Hong Kong, Agnes Chow, protest, pro-democracy camp, Demosisto, Ivan Lam