HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court convicted four people Thursday for rioting over the storming of the city’s legislative council building at the height of the anti-government protests more than four years ago.
The break-in on July 1 in 2019 — the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China — was one of the most chaotic episodes of the massive protests sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill.
Hundreds of protesters swarmed into the legislature that night, defacing pictures and smashing furniture. Some spray-painted slogans in the chamber and painted over the territory’s emblem on a wall before vacating the site as riot police cleared surrounding streets with tear gas and then moved inside. The legislature eventually spent about 36 million Hong Kong dollars ($4.6 million) on repairing the damages, the court heard earlier.
Six defendants, including actor Gregory Wong and two reporters, Wong Ka-ho and Ma Kai-chung, pleaded not guilty in 2023 to rioting.
On Thursday, judge Li Chi-ho found four of the six defendants, including Gregory Wong, guilty of rioting. Wong Ka-ho and Ma were acquitted of the rioting charge but were convicted for unlawful entry into the legislature.
Li said in his written judgment that there was a directive to ask all people to leave. “I can’t see how the defense can distort the meaning of the word and exclude journalists from ‘everyone,’” he said.
He added it was a “wrong idea” for Wong Ka-ho to think that reporters can stay there to document the developments.
During the trial, Gregory Wong said he was at the scene to deliver chargers to a reporter. But the judge challenged his arguments, saying he had hugged a protester before leaving the chamber as an expression of support.
“His intention of entering the legislature is obvious, it is to join this riot,” he said.
Earlier, the court heard that defendant Lam Kam-kwan, who was convicted of rioting and a separate charge of criminal damage Thursday, had been detained in mainland China in August 2019 and had been forced to write a repentance letter. Lam said some Hong Kong police officers later met him and told him that if he would not admit his wrongdoing, he then could not return to the city. The officers denied they had threatened Lam.
Li said in his judgement the accusations against the police “were all lies.”
Eight others, including activists Ventus Lau, Owen Chow and former student leader Althea Suen, were also charged for rioting in the…
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