The teenage face of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, 18-year-old Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), yesterday slammed the authorities in a court appearance linked to mass protests which brought parts of the territory to a standstill for months last year.
Wong was one of 29 activists at the High Court for a preliminary hearing on possible criminal contempt charges for blocking the police clearance of one of the main protest camps in November.
China has pledged that voters in Hong Kong can elect the territory’s next chief executive in 2017, but insists that only two or three candidates can stand and that they will be vetted by a loyalist committee, a decision that sparked the protests which ended last month.
Authorities say the demonstrations were illegal and police have vowed to target the “principal instigators” in an ongoing investigation.
The activists were given the chance to address the court, with some shouting: “I want true democracy” — calls that were echoed by supporters in the public gallery.
“The government is using legal procedures to suppress the Umbrella Movement,” Wong said, referring to the name for the pro-democracy campaign.
“It is wasting taxpayers’ money... to stop people from taking future action,” he said.
Wong is the founder of the student protest group Scholarism and became one of the most prominent voices of the pro-democracy movement during the street protests.
Another student leader, Lester Shum (岑敖暉), 21, accused the authorities of “abusing legal proceedings.”
“The court is being used as a political tool for suppression,” he said.
Before the hearing, the group had gathered outside holding yellow umbrellas — the symbol of the pro-democracy movement.
Hong Kong’s Department of Justice said in court yesterday that it would pursue criminal contempt cases against 22 of the activists who appeared, including Wong and Shum, but did not lay official charges, requesting more time to gather “documentation.”
Bailiffs and police cleared the Mongkok protest camp — scene of some of the most violent clashes during the demonstrations — in late November, leading to at least 150 arrests.
The contempt charges relate to the violation of the injunction order to clear the site.
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