(11 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 11 March
1. Social Worker Jackie Chen outside Wanchai District Court
2. Pan from media to Chen
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jackie Chen, social worker
"I feel peaceful, because I know what I am doing now, so even the result is unexpected, but I think it’s good to me. I hope that all the people I know – they will live healthy, they will live happy, because we still have our road to walk along."
4. Chen hugging supporters before going into court
5. Various exteriors of Wanchai District Court building
STORYLINE:
A social worker who tried to mediate during the height of the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong was convicted of rioting Tuesday in the latest case that signaled the tough stance the authorities have taken toward political cases.
Jackie Chen was part of a group of social workers who often carried a loudspeaker seeking to mediate between police and protesters during the social unrest.
She was freed at her first trial in September 2020, but the secretary of justice appealed and a court ordered a retrial by another judge.
In the retrial, the prosecution accused Chen, who used a loudspeaker to ask police officers to calm down and not to use their guns to fire non-lethal bullets, of participating in a riot during a protest in August 2019.
Chen pleaded not guilty.
The judge who convicted Chen did not elaborate on the reasons before suspending the hearing for a break.
The lawyers were reading the written judgment.
Ahead of the verdict hearing, Chen told reporters that she felt peaceful because she had five years to prepare for this.
Regardless of the outcome, she has no regrets, she said.
“I hope all the people I know — they will live healthy, they will live happy because we still have our road to walk along,” she said.
After the judge announced the decision, she shouted that she would be OK to her supporters sitting in the public gallery.
She was not immediately sentenced.
Chen’s case drew attention because of her mild role in the 2019 movement, which was the biggest challenge to the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The 2019 protests were sparked by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to the mainland for trial.
The government withdrew the bill, but the protesters widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.
In response, Beijing imposed a national security law to quell the unrest.
Under the law, many of the city’s leading activists were prosecuted or convicted.
Hong Kong government insists the law has restored the city’s stability.
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