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Hong Kong, China – A few days after his release from prison in June last year, Joshua Wong stood in front of thousands of people in front of the Wanchai police headquarters, denouncing the government’s classification of anti-government protests as riots.
“No riots, just tyranny!” scream. The crowd chanted with him.
It is Wong’s determination and bravery that has repeatedly put the 24-year-old in the line of fire from both the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities.
And it was this particular event that led to his current situation.
Wong, who will be sentenced Wednesday afternoon for the incident, has already served several sentences in connection with his role in the 2014 Umbrella pro-democracy protests. He was only 17 at the time, but became the model for the massive civil disobedience movement, which paralyzed parts of the city’s business district for 79 days.
The activist is now expected to receive another jail sentence, this time for up to three years, for the June rally during last year’s unprecedented anti-government protests, which began in opposition to an extradition bill with mainland China.
Wong has been charged along with two other activists, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam. All three, who were members of the now-dissolved political group Demosisto, pleaded guilty to organizing and inciting an unauthorized assembly. At a court hearing on November 23, the three were placed in preventive custody before sentencing.
“The authorities may want him to remain in prison one period after another,” Wong said before his most recent court appearance. “But I am convinced that neither the prison bars, nor the electoral ban, nor any other arbitrary power would prevent us from activism.”
Joshua Wong looks back as he and fellow activist Ivan Lam arrive at Lai Chi Kok after pleading guilty to organizing and inciting an unauthorized assembly near the police headquarters during anti-government protests last year. [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
Outgoing pro-democracy lawmaker Fernando Cheung, who visited the detained Wong at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Center on Saturday, said Al Jazeera Wong was “in a good mood.”
According to Cheung, Wong spent three days in isolation, in a 70-square-foot (6.5-square-meter) room in a hospital, because authorities suspected he may have carried “irregular items” on his body.
“Solitary confinement was torture for him, as he was totally disconnected from the rest of the world,” Cheung said, describing the punishment as “ridiculous.”
In a written response to Al Jazeera’s questions about the allegations, the Hong Kong Department of Correctional Services said it would not comment on individual cases.
However, CSD said: “To prevent unauthorized items from being brought into correctional institutions, CSD will conduct security checks, including X-ray body scans, against all newly admitted to custody. If a suspicious case is found, CSD will activate the security mechanism, in accordance with the law, to remove the detained person from the association for the remediation process ”.
Wong has now reportedly returned to a normal cell.
“Despite such adversity,” Cheung said, “Joshua wants us to hold our heads high. He wants us all to take good care of ourselves and others. “
He added that the activist remains defiant and tells him: “As long as we continue to live, so does the movement.”
Chilling effect
The latest trial is part of a wave of prosecutions and arrests since Beijing imposed the National Security Law, which criminalizes what it calls secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces.
Beijing views Wong and other Hong Kong activists who have lobbied for international support as “black hands” from Western powers that are trying to meddle in its internal affairs. He has also defended the broad legislation as crucial to restoring stability and peace to the territory after the 2019 riots.
Critics argue that the law stifles Hong Kong’s vibrant civil society and the freedoms promised to the territory when it was returned to China from the UK in 1997.
Wong also faces charges of participating in an unauthorized assembly in October last year and June 4, 2020, during a vigil for the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. In July, he was banned from running for a seat in the legislature. of the city before the election itself was postponed a year.
Political awakening
Wong’s pious family, who raised him as a Protestant Christian, likely fostered his sense of activism from a young age. His father, Roger Wong, was part of an initiative against gay marriage and reportedly took his son to visit the poor in the city frequently as a child.
Wong has kept his religious views a secret, but is believed to have developed strong leadership, organizational and speaking skills through his involvement in his church and school, United Christian College.
Wong first gained attention as a 17-year-old for her role on Occupy Central in 2014. [Alex Hofford/EPA]
Wong was just 13 years old when he led his first rally, protesting against plans to build a high-speed train linking Hong Kong and mainland China. Two years later, he co-founded the student activist group Scholarism. In 2012, he inspired hundreds of thousands of protesters to block the introduction of national education into Hong Kong’s curriculum, something he and his friends said amounted to brainwashing in Beijing.
But it was Umbrella’s protests that catapulted Wong onto the world stage. Images of the 17-year-old in glasses shouting anti-Beijing slogans on the streets of Hong Kong made headlines and Wong’s face appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
However, for several years after the Umbrella protests, which did not win any concessions from the government, Hong Kong’s democracy movement took a back seat.
Veteran Democrat and former lawmaker Emily Lau said the Umbrella protests were key in inspiring the younger generation of Democrats: “It failed to achieve the goal of universal suffrage and it disappointed many people, including the young, but the desire for democracy it had been fanned. “
Wong continued to campaign in earnest, along with his fellow Demosisto activists, calling on the world to pay attention to Beijing’s growing influence in the city.
In August 2017, he was jailed for six months for raiding the government headquarters compound, the same act that had sparked the Umbrella protests three years earlier.
However, it wasn’t until last year, when CEO Carrie Lam tried to introduce a controversial bill that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial, that it can be said that Hong Kong’s democracy movement really woke up. .
Wong was arrested several times, here after climbing the golden statue of Bauhinia during a protest, June 2017 [Roman Pilipey/EPA]
Wong was serving a five-week term in jail for contempt of court while anger over the extradition bill was gathering steam. By the time he was released on June 16, full-blown protests had begun. The police had used tear gas against the protesters, who responded by throwing bricks and gasoline bombs.
Although this time the protest movement was declared “leaderless”, Wong continued to participate in demonstrations throughout 2019 and played a leading role in persuading US politicians to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which imposes sanctions on officials suspected of human rights violations.
Coming of age, keeping the faith
“Sometimes he’s a little impatient for progress,” said Nathan Law, one of the founders of the Hong Kong democracy movement and a former lawmaker, when asked about his friend and fellow activist Joshua Wong.
The two have spent the last seven years at the forefront of the fight for greater democracy in the territory.
“He puts all his energy into activism. I always say that he is a person without a second life; all their focus is on how to advance causes and agendas, ”Law, 27, told Al Jazeera from London, where he applied for asylum after national security law was imposed.
His friend and fellow activist Nathan Law, left, says Wong is completely focused on the political struggle [File: Vernon Yuen/.EPA]
Law says Wong’s unwavering determination, and religious beliefs, will be critical to getting him through the next difficult phase of his political career.
“Incarceration is never easy, but I think that with his determination and strong mind, he could walk through it in peace,” he said.
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