'Followers Of Non-Violence': Hong Kong Activist Invokes Gandhi In Trial
NDTV
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Lee Cheuk-yan said, "We are all followers of Gandhi's idea of non-violent struggle, hoping to bring democratic reforms to Hong Kong."
A leading Hong Kong democracy activist facing jail invoked Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience campaign in court on Wednesday as he gave a defiant speech defending his decision to take part in a banned Tiananmen vigil.
Lee Cheuk-yan is one of eight pro-democracy figures on trial for joining a vigil last year which had been banned by Hong Kong police for the first time in 31 years, citing the coronavirus and security fears.
Five defendants, including Lee, have pleaded guilty to joining an "unauthorised assembly".
At Wednesday's sentencing hearing Lee stood to deliver an emotional statement in which he compared Hong Kong's democracy movement to India's struggle for freedom from colonial Britain.
