Joshua Wong pleads guilty to illegal assembly

HONG KONG - Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of organizing and taking part in an unauthorized assembly near the police headquarters during last year's anti-government protests.

Wong, who disbanded his group Demosisto in June, faces a maximum five-year jail term. He appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Monday. His long-time activist colleague Agnes Chow Ting had already pleaded guilty to charges related to the same June 2019 protest, while Ivan Lam Long-yin, another former Demosisto colleague, also pleaded guilty on Monday.

The sentencing is scheduled for Dec 2 and the trio have been remanded in custody.

Wong also faces charges of participating in an unauthorized assembly in October 2019 and on June 4, 2020.

Earlier this year, Wong was disqualified along with 11 other opposition politicians and activists from running in a since-postponed election for the city's Legislative Council.

Wong spent five weeks in jail last year for contempt of court, before being released on June 16, 2019.

With Reuters inputs