More than 40 people appeared in a Hong Kong court on Wednesday charged with rioting for their role in a recent protest that turned violent.
since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, but this is the first time that the authorities in the financial hub have resorted to using the rioting charge.
Protesters push a burning cart towards police at a demonstration in the Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong on July 28.The use of the anti-riot law could infuriate activists who have been demanding that the government avoid using the term"riot" to refer to the demonstrations. Under Hong Kong law, rioting is defined as an unlawful assembly of three or more people where any person"commits a breach of the peace," and a conviction can carry a 10-year prison sentence.
Those charged included 13 students, seven clerks, a pilot from the city's main airline, Cathay Pacific, teachers, nurses, workers and salesmen. All were released on bail and are due back in court on Sept. 25. Hundreds of people surrounded a police station late on Tuesday after the 44 activists were charged, and on Wednesday morning, hundreds gathered outside the court house, chanting"revolution of our time" and"liberate Hong Kong."
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