Dec. 2 (UPI) — A prominent pro-democracy leader in Hong Kong was sentenced Wednesday to more than a year in prison for his role in a police protest that was part of mass demonstrations there last year.
Joshua Wong entered a guilty plea last month in connection with a July 21, 2019, protest at police headquarters. Wednesday, he was sentenced to 13 and a half months. Two other anti-government protesters received lighter sentences.
Wong’s protest, like many others throughout 2019, grew out of opposition to a controversial law that allowed mainland China to extradite accused persons from Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China. The protests later grew to include other grievances, including police brutality.
The magistrate said at Wong’s sentencing Wednesday that he and the other two charged demonstrators posed a threat to public safety and seriously disrupted traffic with their protest.
“They committed the offense in a joint enterprise of which they were active participants,” the judge said.
In a letter posted to his social media account, Wong promised he will keep fighting.
“It’s not the end of the fight,” he wrote. “Ahead of us is another challenging battleground.
“We’re now joining the battle in prison along with many brave protesters, less visible yet essential in the fight for democracy and freedom for [Hong Kong].”
The other two protesters in court Wednesday, Ivan Lam Long-ying and Agnes Chow Ting, were sentenced to seven and 10 months, respectively.
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