Opposition legislator Leung Kwok-hung, also known as "Long Hair" was fined HK$1,500, by the Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, for his part in an unauthorized assembly last year.

The radical lawmaker and five other protesters who received similar fines could have faced jail terms.

Leung and the others charged were accused of holding a public meeting without informing the police, in breach of the Public Order Ordinance. All six had pleaded guilty in court on Monday.

The court heard that Leung and Cheung Kam-hung, Chow Nok-hang, Leung Wing-lai, Hung Hiu-han and Shum Tse-kit staged a protest, leading more than 100 people. The protest followed the conclusion of an earlier demonstration which did have police authorization until 8 pm, on July 1, 2011. The protesters carried on after the scheduled conclusion and sat on the road, at the convergence of Queen's Road Central, Garden Road and Connaught Road, until midnight, creating heavy traffic congestion.

Eight protesters were arrested by the police at the time. The two other defendants, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, were bound over on HK$1,000 bail. The Ordinance stipulates that three or more persons staging a demonstration without notifying police will be viewed under the ordinance as participants in an unlawful assembly.

In passing down judgment, Magistrate Don So Man-lung said the severity of the case was relatively light. He noted, the protest took place in a commercial area, not a residential area, having what he described as limited impact on the public.

Secondly, the judge continued that the protest organizer had applied beforehand to the police for permission to demonstrate. The defendants, only extended the authorized time and the scheduled routine. Police were already on duty and prepared.

The Magistrate also noted that the number of protesters was not large, numbering only about a hundred and nobody was injured.

So concluded, that even though the protesters were out of line, thousands of police were at the scene to control the situation. He said that was clearly demonstrated by virtue of the fact that the Central district was restored to normal after the government took action to arrest the protesters.

Leung, who was re-elected to the Legislative Council earlier this month, could have faced disqualification from the council, had he been sentenced to a jail term of more than one month.

Earlier in April, a motion of impeachment was tabled, seeking to have Leung expelled from the Legislative Council after he was sentenced to two months in jail because of a second incident, in which he burst into a public forum on by-elections, during which public property was damaged. The impeachment motion was voted down by Leung's fellow lawmakers.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 09/26/2012 page1)