Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong press mogul Jimmy Lai was among eight pro-democracy activists on Friday sentenced to new prison terms for their 2019 participation in a banned protest on Communist China's 70th birthday.

Mr. Lai, already in detention for participating in other rallies, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for organizing and participating in the protest on October 1, 2019. He will therefore have to serve 20 months in total.

Seven other figures in the pro-democracy movement, including Figo Chan, a 25-year-old activist, and ex-MPs Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung were also sentenced to new sentences.

When they arrived at the court in a police van, several defendants made the V sign for victory with their fingers.

People who came to support them chanted "add oil", a phrase commonly used in Hong Kong to support and encourage a person.

This wave of condemnations once again illustrates the relentless Chinese repression in the semi-autonomous territory.

In 2019, the international financial center was rocked for several months by huge, often violent, protests against Beijing's growing grip.

On October 1, 2019, National Day in China, the peaceful rally, in which the convicted activists took part on Friday, was followed by particularly violent clashes between the police and radical demonstrators.

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The large participation in this rally was seen as a snub by the Chinese government, which was celebrating the 70th anniversary of the regime that day.

"It was naive to believe that a call for peaceful and rational conduct would suffice to ensure the absence of violence," Justice Amanda Woodcock said as she handed down the jail terms for the eight activists.

In response to the massive protest movement of 2019, Beijing launched a massive campaign to crack down on dissent and imposed a draconian national security law.

- Tiananmen vigil prohibited -

On Thursday, the Hong Kong police did not authorize, for the second year in a row, the holding on June 4 of the annual vigil in memory of the victims of the crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The Hong Kong Minister of Security clarified that the national security law imposed by Beijing was likely to be invoked against violators.

More than 10,000 people were arrested in connection with the 2019 protests and around 2,500 were convicted of various offenses.

The majority of the main leaders of the pro-democracy movement are in detention or have fled abroad.

More than 100 people, including Mr. Lai, have been charged under the security law, which provides for sentences of up to life in prison.

The activists convicted on Friday belong to the more moderate wing of the pro-democracy movement.

Four of them were already serving prison sentences for taking part in protests.

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Most have spent decades advocating non-violence as part of their so far unsuccessful fight for true universal suffrage.

Figo Chan is one of the pillars of the Civil Human Rights Front coalition, behind the main protests of 2019 in which hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers took part.

Earlier this week, during a hearing, Chan accused Hong Kong leaders of not giving citizens the opportunity to express their discontent.

"If the government listened to the demands of the people, it would not be necessary for people to resort to violence for the government to react," he told the court.

Beijing believes that repression and the law on national security were essential to restore the stability of the territory.

Many Western powers believe that the takeover of Hong Kong by Beijing put an end to the principle "One country, two systems" which had governed the handover of the former British colony by London in 1997. It was to guarantee the territory a very large autonomy until 2047.

© 2021 AFP