HONG KONG — Ten pro-democracy activists were sentenced in Hong Kong on Friday to prison terms ranging from 14 months to 18 months over a 2019 protest, the latest in a series of tough punishments that have put much of the Chinese territory’s opposition camp behind bars, with many more awaiting trial. As they led a march on Hong Kong Island, clashes broke out across the city in some of the worst protest violence that year. Two of the sentences, given to the politicians Sin Chung-kai and Richard Tsoi, were suspended for two years. Fernando Cheung, a pro-democracy former lawmaker, said Friday that “such severe punishments” sent a message of deterrence to the people of Hong Kong days before an annual June 4 vigil to honor the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. On Thursday, the Hong Kong police blocked the event for the second year in a row, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: International New York Times May 28, 2021 04:12 UTC