Enlarge image
Hong Kong: Protesters in Parliament in 2019
Photo: Kin Cheung/DPA
A court in Hong Kong has sentenced twelve defendants to prison for storming the city's parliament in 2019.
More than four and a half years ago, more than 10,000 demonstrators were arrested in the Chinese Special Administrative Region following the storming of the parliament building and pro-democracy protests.
As news agencies report, twelve of those arrested have now been sentenced to prison terms of up to seven years.
Hong Kong: Uprising against China
On the night of July 1, 2019, the 22nd anniversary of the handover of the former British crown colony to China, hundreds of demonstrators broke into Hong Kong's parliament building, broke windows and sprayed graffiti.
As a result of the incident, a total of 14 protesters were charged with rioting and various other offenses such as criminal damage and breaking into the meeting room.
The incident is considered the latest popular uprising against Chinese Communist Party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.
The following year, Beijing passed a so-called security law in Hong Kong that enabled a rigorous crackdown on the protests and subsequently stifled the democracy movement.
Actor Gregory Wong was among those sentenced by District Judge Li Chi-ho.
Political activists Ventus Lau and Owen Chow were also sentenced to prison.
lhi/Reuters/AFP