Hong Kong 47: crowds throng court as family, supporters bid farewell to jailed opposition figures

Those who made it into packed public gallery said their goodbyes

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A supporter of one of the defendants, social worker Hendrick Lui, holds up a protest sign outside West Kowloon Court in Cheung Sha Wan before the sentencing hearing. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 6:50pm, 19 Nov 2024Updated: 10:00pm, 19 Nov 2024

Hundreds of Hong Kong residents showed up to witness the sentencing in a landmark national security trial on Tuesday, with some family and friends of the 45 politicians and activists imprisoned bidding farewell to their loved ones in court as others outside were told to leave after the public gallery was filled.

A crowd had gathered overnight at West Kowloon Court, with some reportedly started queuing up as early as Saturday. More than 200 residents had joined a winding queue before 7am on Tuesday under intermittent rain.

Among the crowd were former activists, politicians and fervent supporters from all walks of life who turned up to show solidarity with the defendants.

Police deployed more than 100 uniformed and plain-clothes officers to monitor the crowd, with multiple security vehicles including the armoured “Sabre-toothed Tiger” on standby.

Political allies and ordinary residents spoke of their ardent wish to show the defendants, who had spent more than three years remanded in prison, that they had not been forgotten, even if chances of seeing them in person were slim.

“I’m not here to see their faces as I could [during prison visits]. I hope to show them some support and let them know that many people are behind their backs,” Raphael Wong Ho-ming, former chairman of the League of Social Democrats, told the Post.