Protesters from Hong Kong’s Occupy Central Movement on Trial

HONG KONG DEMOCRACY PROTEST
Pro-democracy activists carry a banner depicting Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying during a march to Central, demanding for universal suffrage in Hong Kong Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015. The march is the first large-scale demonstration since the Occupy Central protest ended last year as the government started a second round of public consultation on democratic reform. The banner reads: “No fake democracy, I want genuine universal suffrage. Kin Cheung / AP Photo
HONG KONG DEMOCRACY PROTEST
Pro-democracy activists carry a banner depicting Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying during a march to Central, demanding for universal suffrage in Hong Kong Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015. The march is the first large-scale demonstration since the Occupy Central protest ended last year as the government started a second round of public consultation on democratic reform. The banner reads: “No fake democracy, I want genuine universal suffrage. Kin Cheung / AP Photo

Protesters from Hong Kong’s Occupy Central Movement on Trial

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Nine leaders of Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central with Love and Peace,” a pro-democracy movement that spun off into the “Umbrella Movement”, went on trial last month. In 2014, the leaders called for civil disobedience in downtown Hong Kong to protest Beijing suspending free elections. The defendants, who pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and incitement, face seven years in prison. The Umbrella Movement brought international attention to China’s apparent disregard for the “two systems one country” policy that was implemented with British decolonization, and to the poor state of civil rights in China. With us to discuss the case is Justin Tse, a visiting assistant professor of Asian American Studies at Northwestern University. He’s most recently author of the edited volume Theological Reflections on the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement.