A Hong Kong student has been convicted of taking part in an unlawful assembly at a shopping centre during the months-long 2019 social unrest after being rearrested four years on from the initial offence.
Issac Lee, 20, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to his participation in the gathering at Kwun Tong’s APM shopping centre on June 30, 2020, in which he and others were arrested after being spotted waving flags and holding banners to promote the city’s independence, as well as chanting slogans.
Magistrate Edward Wong Ching-yu of Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Court said he would consider the defendant’s young age in deciding on the sentencing and ordered reports to help determine whether Lee should serve time at a training, detention or rehabilitation centre instead of a prison.
Lee was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on August 12.
The court heard the defendant had become a wanted person after police learned he had left the city in August 2021 to study in the United Kingdom.
Lee did not return until July 15 this year, when he was arrested at the city’s airport. He was brought to court the next day.
The prosecution showed the court video footage that showed the student at the shopping centre holding a blue banner with the words “Hong Kong independence”. He could be seen standing alongside a few other protesters who were also waving flags with the same message.
Lee was arrested outside a shop after he ignored police warnings.
Prosecutors estimated more than a hundred people attended the unlawful gathering.
The crowd formed on the night the national security law was enacted and chanted slogans to encourage the public to take to the streets the next day.
The court heard that others arrested alongside Lee had been prosecuted in 2022.
In a reply to questions from the Post over their progress on wrapping up investigations of cases related to the protests, police last week said they “will handle the remaining cases in accordance with the law”.
As of May this year, police have arrested 10,279 people in connection with the anti-government protests but charged only 2,961, according to the latest statistics.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said last week it reviewed the evidence of each case separately before making a decision to prosecute.
He said the department had given legal advice and instructions to police before 2022 for all cases related to the 2019 social unrest.
“The cases [that came after 2022] were all related to those [on which we] had [previously] given legal advice and instructions,” he said.
