Hong Kong Convicts Four Over 2019 Legislature Storming

Four Hong Kong men were convicted of rioting Thursday over the storming and ransacking of the city's legislature in 2019, part of a pro-democracy movement that posed an unprecedented challenge to the Beijing-backed government.

It was the most violent episode in the initial stage of the huge protests that upended the financial hub that year, with Beijing later imposing a sweeping national security law to snuff out dissent.

Hundreds of protesters broke into the legislature on the night of July 1, 2019, smashing windows and spraying graffiti on what was the 22nd anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China.

A total of 14 people were later charged with rioting -- which carries a punishment of up to 10 years in jail -- and various other offences such as criminal damage and entering the legislative chamber.

Eight pleaded guilty to the rioting charge, including Althea Suen, a former student leader of the University of Hong Kong, and activists Ventus Lau and Owen Chow.

Six others, including two journalists and actor Gregory Wong, pleaded not guilty and have been on trial since last May. On Thursday, deputy district court judge Li Chi-ho found four of them guilty of rioting.

Five of the six were also convicted of entering the legislative chamber, an offence carrying up to three months in jail, and the sixth was found guilty of criminal damage, which could carry a sentence of up to 10 years.

Neither of the journalists were convicted on the rioting charge, but judge Li found that they should have heeded an evacuation order by the legislature that day.

One of the defendants, Lam Kam-kwan, told the court that he was forced to make a confession while detained in Shenzhen, a Chinese city adjacent to Hong Kong, between August and October of 2019.

But judge Li rejected Lam's account as "all lies" and used the confession to convict him.

Li revoked bail for the four defendants convicted of rioting, reserving sentences for a later date.

More than 10,000 people were arrested as authorities sought to extinguish the 2019 protests, which erupted over government legislation that would have opened the door to criminal suspects being tried on the mainland.

The national security law, imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, outlawed most dissent and crushed the democracy movement.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong's leader John Lee announced that the city would create a new homegrown security law to combat "threats posed by external forces and local terrorism".

The law will add offences including insurrection and external interference to the list of crimes falling under national security.