Nine prominent democracy leaders of the 2014 Occupy Hong Kong protests were found guilty on Tuesday of a range of charges including conspiracy to commit and inciting public nuisance, for their roles in the protest that brought downtown Hong Kong to a standstill.
The defendants include professors Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming who popularised the idea of a non-violent occupation of central Hong Kong in 2014, which aimed to bring fully democratic elections to the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
The idea later developed into a mostly peaceful 79-day shutdown of the commercial district of Hong Kong known as the “umbrella movement” because of the umbrellas used by supporters to fend off pepper spray from the police.