Hong Kong court jails 8 for up to 4½ years for rioting during 2019 PolyU siege

Group is the final batch of 213 people arrested near Yau Ma Tei MTR station to learn their fate after being charged

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A protester sets fire and vandalizes facilities at the Polytechnic University in Hung Hom on November 11, 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 2:49pm, 16 Sep 2024Updated: 8:31pm, 16 Sep 2024

A Hong Kong court has jailed eight people for up to 4½ years for taking part in a riot as police laid siege to a university at the height of the 2019 anti-government protests.

Deputy District Judge Peony Wong Nga-yan said on Monday that the eight defendants, aged between 23 and 33, had been present in the proximity of a junction in Yau Ma Tei near Polytechnic University where clashes between police and protesters took place on the night of November 18, 2019.

The eight, who were earlier found guilty in the District Court on May 30, were the final batch among 213 people arrested near Yau Ma Tei MTR station to learn their fate after being charged. They were divided into 17 groups for trial over the past two years.

Following Monday’s sentencing, police said that 200 out of the 213 were convicted, while six were acquitted after trial and seven had absconded.

“It has been a very lengthy process. This case is unprecedented and complicated in the sense that it involved a large number of arrests,” said Superintendent Wong Yick-lung, of the force’s Kowloon East regional crime unit.

All 17 trials were brought to court over a span of 18 months, with hundreds of prosecution witnesses and more than 5,000 documents used as evidence, he added.

Sentences imposed earlier ranged from a period of detention at a training centre to 29 to 64 months in jail.