Hong Kong protests: 20 jailed for up to 64 months over riot near besieged PolyU campus in 2019
- The men, aged between 21 and 45, were involved in large-scale disturbance that erupted around 1.5km from university’s campus in Hung Hom on November 18, 2019
- Deputy Judge Ivy Chui opted to impose lesser sentences on 11 of the defendants, as they did not commit any violent acts
Twenty Hongkongers have been jailed for up to 64 months each for rioting near a university besieged by police at the height of the city’s anti-government protests in 2019.
The 20 men, aged between 21 and 45, were separately brought before two deputy judges for sentencing on Saturday over their participation in the large-scale disturbance that erupted around 1.5km from Polytechnic University’s campus in Hung Hom on November 18, 2019.
An additional defendant, a 19-year-old student, avoided jail as she was only 16 at the time of the offence. She was instead sentenced to up to three years’ counselling and vocational learning in a training centre.
Deputy Judge Cheang Kei-hong, who sentenced 10 of the defendants at the District Court, described the demonstration as “mini warfare” where participants “blatantly” and “maliciously” attacked police in organised formations and wreaked havoc in the community.
Cheang said the group must pay a heavy price for disrupting social order and undermining the rule of law.
Nine of the accused were jailed for between 61 and 64 months.
