Three protesters from Hong Kong's radical youth opposition have been jailed for taking part in a violent unrest, receiving the harshest sentences handed down to democracy activists since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Edward Leung, 27, one of the leaders of a movement advocating Hong Kong's independence from China, was jailed for six years for rioting and assaulting police in a 2016 overnight protest that turned violent. He was found guilty of rioting by a jury and had pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer.
Two other activists, Lo Kin-man and Wong Ka-kui, were jailed 7 and 3.5 years respectively for rioting.
About 130 people, mostly police, were injured when masked protesters tossed bricks and set rubbish bins alight to vent their anger against what they saw as mainland Chinese encroachment on the city's autonomy and freedoms. The government quickly labelled the overnight unrest a "riot".
Leung has supported Hong Kong's outright secession from China given Beijing's perceived erosion of the "one country two systems" principle granting the city a high degree of autonomy since it was handed from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
It wasn't immediately clear if he would appeal against the sentence.
Leung appeared calm upon hearing High Court Judge Anthea Pang announce the sentence, while murmurs of disbelief rippled through a crowd of about 150 activists and supporters watching a live broadcast outside the courtroom.
Pang condemned the "severe" violence of the riot, which she said had caused "great danger" to those at the scene, and which warranted the imposition of a strict deterrent sentence.
"The court absolutely does not allow livelihood or political disputes to be expressed through acts of violence," she said.
Rioting in Hong Kong is defined under the city's Public Order Ordinance as an assembly of three or more people where any person "commits a breach of the peace".
This offence, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars, was last amended in 1970, a few years after a months-long pro-Communist riot against British rule killed at least 50 people, including children.
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