Chinese University duo charged for 'seditious' slogans in campus protest

Two Chinese University students were on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to publish seditious remarks by national security police for chanting pro-independence slogans in a protest within the campus. 

The charge alleged that the 19-year-old student surnamed Tong and the 17-year-old student surnamed Sham chanted slogans including “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and other slogans popular during the 2019 unrest inside the university on November 19, 2020 – which was during the fourth wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. 

Tong is now serving his sentence in Tong Fuk Correctional Institute over other cases, while Sham has been remanded in custody at Kwun Tong Police Station. The two will appear in West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on March 11. 

The students started the protest to voice against the university's decision of canceling the in-person graduation ceremony. The university then reported to police and condemned the protest for violating the social gathering cap. 

In Hong Kong's first national security trial involving motorcyclist Tong Ying-kit, judges ruled that the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” could incite others to commit secession. 

National security police are also probing the student union of City University, after student leaders held a protest during their “outgoing ceremony” on February 14. 

On February 7, the university announced it would take back the student union's premises in seven days, saying the union failed to submit its audit report for years. 

The union held a farewell ceremony at its office on the afternoon of February 14 before moving out. Some 30 students dressed in black first gathered at the student union office before leading a protest on campus. More than 100 have participated in the protest at its peak, in breach of the social gathering ban.

They chanted slogans along the way, posted notes on the university's democracy wall and draw graffiti on the handrails on campus -- the contents of which were suspected to involve "Hong Kong independence".