[ad_1]
HONG KONG (Reuters) – More than 100 protesters rallied Monday in a Hong Kong court to support three leaders of the Occupy Movement of Civil Disobedience 2014 led by the Chinese-led city and accused of public nuisance.
Law professor Benny Tai, 54, sociological professor Chan Kin-man, 59, and retired pastor Chu Yiu-ming, 74, face three charges of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance, incentive to commit a public nuisance and incitement to incite to a public nuisance.
Each charge is punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment. Six other people are also charged in a case that comes as the civil liberties of the financial center come under increasing pressure.
The demonstrators waved yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, and raised their fists, chanting "I want universal suffrage".
Another protester brandished an umbrella with the words "Power to the People".
In 2013, the trio began promulgating and planning a non-violent civil disobedience campaign to occupy the streets of the city's central business district if China did not allow a truly democratic vote by its next leader.
The "Occupy" campaign began in September 2014 and has become an integral part of the biggest populist challenge of Chinese Communist Party leaders since the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to occupy the main roads continuously and continuously for nearly three months.
Among the six other defendants include Lee Wing-tat, former Democratic Party member, Democratic lawmaker Tanya Chan, activist Raphael Wong, student leaders Tommy Cheung and Eason Chung.
The case could have repercussions on hundreds of other protesters who have not yet been charged.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 according to a "one country, two systems" formula, with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy and private freedoms of Chinese citizenship, including the freedom to speech and the right to protest.
However, critics including foreign governments, business groups and activists say the guarantee is getting weaker.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned in a report to Congress last week that China had "stepped up its interference" with Hong Kong and "shut down". Political space of democracy activists "to express their dissatisfaction".
Reportage of James Pomfret; Edited by Paul Tait
