Posted by Joseph Brouwer | Apr 1, 2021 On Wednesday, March 31, Hong Kong’s “father of democracy” Martin Lee, media mogul Jimmy Lai, politician “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, barrister Margaret Ng, and three others were convicted of illegal assembly for their leadership role in a peaceful 2019 march. During the August 18 march, an estimated 1.7 million people defied a police ban to protest in the pouring rain, walking from Victoria Park towards Central, Hong Kong’s business district. Although expected, the conviction of the mostly elderly coalition of democracy activists—Martin Lee is an octogenarian—is a dark moment for freedom of assembly in Hong Kong. The group will face sentencing later in April. At The New York Times, Austin Ramzy