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HONG KONG: Three young Hong Kong dissidents, including Joshua Wong, were taken into custody on Monday after pleading guilty to inciting a demonstration during pro-democracy protests last year, deepening the crackdown on critics of Beijing.
Hong Kong was in convulsions for seven consecutive months of huge and often violent democratic demonstrations last year in which millions took to the streets.
Beijing and local authorities have rejected the demands for free elections and have persecuted democracy supporters with criminal cases and a powerful new national security law.
Wong, 24, was prosecuted along with fellow activists Ivan Lam and Agnes Chow for a protest that took place last summer in front of the city’s police headquarters.
“We will continue to fight for freedom, and now is not the time to bow to Beijing and surrender,” Wong told reporters before the trial began.
“We have no regrets,” added Lam, 26.
‘Add the oil!’
Inside court, Wong pleaded guilty to inciting and organizing an illegal gathering. Lam pleaded guilty to incitement, while Chow, 23, admitted to inciting and joining the protest.
All three were placed in pre-trial detention pending sentencing on December 2, which means that jail time is practically guaranteed.
The maximum sentence that a magistrate court can impose is three years.
As he was taken away, Wong yelled, “Everyone hold on. I know it’s harder for you to stay out there. Add the oil! “
Adding oil is a popular Cantonese breath phrase.
Police became a target for protesters after tear gas and rubber bullets were routinely used to clear crowds when protests began last June.
The force’s headquarters was besieged multiple times with crowds throwing eggs and staining its walls with graffiti.
Chow had previously said he planned to plead guilty, a tactic that can lead to a lighter sentence.
Wong and Lam had originally promised to fight the charges. But they changed tactics just as the trial began.
Youth leaders
Despite his youth, Wong has already spent time in prison for leading democracy protests and has said he is prepared for a comeback.
“Emotionally I am reluctant in every way to be jailed, but rationally I have absolutely no room to complain compared to many others,” he said outside of court, referring to the hundreds of protest-linked prosecutions that have now concluded.
Wong became an activist as a teenager and organized successful demonstrations in 2012 against plans to make Hong Kong’s education system more “patriotic” and similar to that of the mainland.
Lam and Chow joined the same movement as teenagers.
In 2014, they helped inspire and lead the “Umbrella Movement,” a 79-day peaceful occupation of three crowded intersections by a largely student-led campaign calling for universal suffrage.
Wong was jailed for his participation in those protests, along with most of the top leaders of that movement.
When the much larger democratic protests began last year, Wong was still in jail.
He vowed to continue fighting for democracy on his release and made appearances at numerous rallies throughout the year.
However, the protests were deliberately leaderless, mostly organized by social media and encrypted chat forums.
They were also much more violent. Riot police fired thousands of bursts of tear gas and rubber bullets and was frequently filmed with batons to beat the arrested protesters.
Small groups of hard-line activists resorted to stones, gasoline bombs, and even bows and arrows.
More than 10,000 people were arrested and Hong Kong courts are now full of trials. Most of the city’s leading activists and opposition figures are facing legal proceedings.
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