#HK CRACKDOWN WATCH UPDATE: The 95 on trial for ‘riot’ over 9/29 Global Anti-Totalitarianism Day protest are back in court tomorrow (12/23), 9:30am, West Kowloon Court. Most were originally arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly, some also for possession of offensive weapons.
But btw their 9/29 arrests & 10/2 appearance in court, govt decided to charge them all en masse w riot tho it couldn’t possibly have had evidence for all; it simply labelled the event a riot & charged them all accordingly. In all govt has done that w 4 large batches of protesters
At the time, this was the biggest trial in #HK history. It’s since been superseded by the over 200 on trial for riot over 11/18 protests near PolyU. In all, 539 have been charged w riot out of 921 on trial & about 6,200 arrested.
Govt has split the trial in 2, w 43 in 1 courtroom, 52 in another. This is assembly line justice. Over 2,000 supporters attended their 1st appearance in court on 10/2. Many were arrested for no more than being present. Come out & show your support!
Already several hundred queuing to get into trial of the 9/29 ‘riot 95’. Hearing starts in an hour and a half. Defense lawyers expect prosecution will ask for 12 more weeks to ‘collect evidence’. That would mean a total of a half year since 1st hearing on 10/2 before trial start. 
As expected,prosecution requested a 12-week postponement to gather evidence.Multiple defense lawyers protested.Some said that at the 1st hearing on 10/2, the original time granted to prosecution was 8 weeks, then extended to 12 to make sure there would be no further postponements
Judge gives prosecution the 12 additional weeks it asks for. The next hearing will be March 23. At that point, prosecution will have had 6 months to gather evidence. The wheels of 'justice', such as they are, are moving slowly indeed, crushing those caught in their maw.
Many supporters gathered here today for this hearing where almost nothing took place, about 1,000. At 1st hearing on 10/2, 2,000 turned out. Only several hundred are admitted to the floor where the courtrooms are; the others wait in the atrium or outside.
Sorry: meant to add: the 12-week extension is the judge’s decision only in the courtroom with 52 defendants. Don’t know if the judge in the courtroom with 43 defendants made the same decision.
The judge in the other trial of 43 also granted the prosecution’s request of another 12-week postponement of the trial. The next date of both trials of, in all, 96 for ‘riot’ on 9/29 will be March 13.
