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Hong Kong student leaders avoid jail time for 2014 democracy protest
Community service and reprieve for leaders of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement.
A Hong Kong court sentenced teenaged democracy activist Joshua Wong on Monday to 80 hours of community service for unlawful assembly related to demonstrations that paralysed key parts of the Chinese-ruled city in 2014.
Wong, 19, was among a small group of activists who had stormed into a fenced-off area in front of government headquarters called Civic Square, sparking a night-long standoff with police before they were arrested.
The incident helped trigger the massive “Umbrella Movement” that paralysed major roads in Hong Kong for nearly three months in a push for full democracy. The protests were one of the boldest populist political challenges to Beijing’s Communist Party leaders in decades.
Two other student leaders were also sentenced in a district court in connection with the Civic Square event. Alex Chow, who was found guilty of unlawful assembly, was given a three-week prison sentence but granted a reprieve. Nathan Law was ordered to serve 120 hours of community service.
