Key
Hong Kong pro-democracy students charged after Occupy protests
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[August 19, 2015]
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Two key
figures in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement have been charged with
illegal assembly almost a year after students stormed government
headquarters at the height of huge protests against Chinese rule, one of
the activists said on Wednesday.
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Alex Chow, 25, the former leader of the Hong Kong Federation of
Students, one of the main groups leading protests that became known
as the Occupy movement, told Reuters he and teenager Joshua Wong had
been formally charged. Wong, 18, is leader of the student group
Scholarism.
Students forced their way through a gate and scaled high fences
surrounding government headquarters in central Hong Kong on Sept. 26
last year in protest against Beijing's decision to rule out free
elections for the former British colony's next leader in 2017.
That triggered Occupy protests that lasted for more than two months
and posed one of the greatest political challenges Beijing's rulers
have faced in decades.
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More than 100,000 people took to the streets at the height of the
demonstrations, blocking major arteries and bringing large parts of
the financial hub to a halt.
Wong was also charged with inciting others to gather for an illegal
assembly, Chow said. The thin teenager with dark-rimmed glasses and
a bowl-cut hairstyle became one of the most-recognized faces of the
protest movement.
Wong wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday he had no regrets about
taking part in the protests and called the charges a "joke" because
the area was considered a public space.
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Wong could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Chow said he and Wong had been told to report to police headquarters
on Aug. 27.
Police declined to confirm the charges but said investigations were
ongoing and there could be further arrests.
(Reporting by Shan Kao; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Paul
Tait)
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