Politics

47 people from the pro-democracy camp attended a hearing at West Kowloon Magistrates Court today in connection with their participation in holding primary polls ahead of the planned Legislative Council election last year. They face charges of "conspiracy to commit subversion" under the National Security Law. Former lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching, convener of Civil Human Rights Front Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit and others sitting on the bench waved at those in the dock, including Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam and Lam Cheuk Ting. Before the hearing began, one of the accused, Ms Ho stood up and shouted that she had not met her lawyer. The first defendant, former legal academic, Benny Tai, 56, was accused of promoting “an agenda to obtain a controlling majority” in the Legislative Council. The prosecution argued that Tai’s '35+' campaign aimed to paralyse the government by getting Legco to indiscriminately refuse to pass the budget and ultimately to cause the dissolution of the Council and the resignation of the Chief Executive. Tai’s “mutual destruction” agenda, the prosecution said, was a conspiracy to “seriously interfere in, disrupt or undermine the performance of duties and functions of the government”. Mr Tai, along with ex-lawmaker Au Nok-hin and members of the now-disbanded group, People for Democracy including Chiu Ka-yin Andrew, Chung Kam-lun and Ng Gordon Ching-hang, allegedly conspired with the rest of the defendants who participated in the primaries. More than 600,000 people voted in the primaries held last July, but the Legislative Council election was postponed for a year because of the Covid pandemic. The police also alleged that Gordon Ng, 41, initiated a 'Say No to Primary Dodgers' movement, which directed readers of their articles to vote in favour of their stance in the primaries. The defendants’ activities such as crowdfunding, nomination and holding press conferences are cited as …

Protesters across Myanmar staged one of its largest anti-coup protests on Monday since the military overthrew democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi's government and arrested members of the National League for Democracy three weeks ago.  In Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city where two protesters were shot dead on Saturday, hundreds of thousands rallied peacefully, among them medical workers, lawyers, engineers, monks and grocery shop keepers, said Aung San Thein, 22, a Mandalay protester in a phone interview.  Mr Thein went into exile with his family as a child due to political prosecution. He returned home after the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the 2015 election.  "We’re not taking any violent action,” Mr Thein said. Demonstrators gathered in front of the central railroad station, passed boiled eggs and snacks to one another and listened to speeches, he said, adding all the shops he saw were closed. "Protesters at the front shouted: ‘What do we want,’ and the crowd behind chanted: ‘We want democracy," he said. "Everything is in order. There is no chaos in the country that [the military] has to declare a national emergency. The only chaos that we are having right now is because of the military," Mr Thein said. "That's what we want to show."  A one-year state of emergency has been imposed on Feb. 1 after the coup, during which the military chief Min Aung Hlaing will remain in power. The strike defied the junta’s warning on Sunday that protesters, who they blamed for “inciting emotional teenagers and youths,” could "suffer a loss of life." Three protesters have been killed by live bullets during clashes with police, including a 16-year-old boy and Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, a 20-year-old who was shot in the head on Feb. 9 in the capital Nay Pyi Taw and …

It was April 2007, right in the middle of a school day, when 8-year-old Aung San Thein's mother came to take him home. His luggage was packed and ready. His mother rushed out again to pick up his older sister and told him to wait.  Escape was imminent. Mr Thein's father and uncle had already left the country. His uncle, a member of the pro-democracy National League for Democracy party and an elected representative in the 1990 multiparty election, had fled to Thailand after the military junta annulled the election results. He helped establish the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, which declared itself Myanmar’s government in exile.  Mr Thein eventually ended up in a place he called "hell" – Mae La, a refugee camp of around 35,000 mostly ethnic Karens on the Thai-Myanmar border. He lived there for almost ten years until the NLD won the 2015 elections and he was able to return to Myanmar.  Now, Mr Thein, 22, is living in Maymyo, a hill town east of Mandalay and is one of hundreds of thousands in Myanmar protesting the military coup on Feb. 1 that seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with other NLD officials. The civil disobedience movement is in full swing in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian nation of 54 million. Demonstrators have filled streets across the country, among them medical staff, bank workers and civil servants on strike, as well as students and monks. They dress in red, the colour of the NLD’s flag and flash the three-finger salute, a symbol of resistance. 100,000 people joined the demonstration in its largest city Yangon on Wednesday, the Guardian reported.  Protestors, like Mr Thein, are peacefully and creatively trying to topple a military dictatorship that has haunted the nation for …