In 2019, the sacking of the Hong Kong local parliament was an unprecedented challenge to the authority of Beijing. Monday, May 29, began in Hong Kong the trial of thirteen people in a local court. The trial is expected to last forty-four days.
On the night of July 1, 2019, the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China by the United Kingdom, protesters hostile to the pro-Beijing local government attacked the Chamber of Parliament, the Legislative Council (LegCo), after having forced the entrance guarded by the police, and had displayed the flag of the British colonial era there. They had smashed windows and smeared walls with graffiti.
The thirteen people on trial from Monday were charged with taking part in a riot, an offense punishable by ten years in prison. Seven of them pleaded guilty at the start of the hearing on Monday, in exchange for the dropping of additional charges against them.
Challenge to the authority of Beijing
The six defendants who have not pleaded guilty face other charges – illegal entry into Parliament and “criminal damage” – which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
More than 10,000 people have been arrested as part of authorities’ efforts to quell the 2019 protest movement that has been one of the main challenges to Beijing’s rule since the handover in 1997.
In 2020, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong that criminalized most dissent and crushed the pro-democracy movement. Some 2,900 people have been prosecuted on charges related to the protests.