Crowds Flood Hong Kong Court to Support Activist Edward Leung

Here's why this Hong Kong protester is supporting activist Edward Leung's court appeal against his sentence for rioting in 2016.

Hundreds of protesters flooded a Hong Kong court to support the appeals case of a jailed activist on Wednesday as the city continued to clean up from a weekend of unprecedented violence, with the subway system set to close early for the sixth straight day.

The crowds gathered outside of Hong Kong’s High Court in Admiralty, where self-described “localist” Edward Leung, 28, was expected to appear at an appeal hearing Wednesday. Leung had been sentenced to six years in prison last year for helping to lead a 2016 riot that was one of the worst outbreaks of unrest the city had witnessed at the time.

Leung’s more radical approach has gained traction in the recent protests, which have been raging for four months as of Wednesday. The Asian financial hub was paralyzed in an unprecedented stretch of violent protests last weekend, as demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and bricks at the police and vandalized several subway stations and bank branches.

Leung has a broad following among younger activists on the front lines of recent protests, and his 2016 campaign slogan “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of Our Time!” is chanted at almost every demonstration. He was subsequently among the first candidates banned for running in citywide elections, as the China-backed government asserted that his past support for independence conflicted with Hong Kong’s charter.

The so-called fish ball riot in 2016, which began as a protest against government restrictions on unlicensed street vendors during the Lunar New Year, shocked the city at the time. More than 90 police officers were injured and warning shots were fired into the air.

The sentencing judge in Leung’s case described the 2016 incident as “organized violence” carried out with a desire for “revenge” before handing down the second-most-severe penalty to a protester, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper. Leung was convicted for rioting under a colonial statute that authorities have increasingly used against protesters this year.

Two other defendants in the case, Lo Kin-man and Wong Ka-kui, are also appealing against their rioting convictions.

Although Leung lost an election for an open legislative seat weeks after the incident, he garnered 15% of the vote, demonstrating growing support for radical anti-China politics in Hong Kong. Several other candidates supporting independence or “self-determination” for the city subsequently won elections, but were removed for altering their oaths of office and other violations.

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