Agnes Chow Released from Prison

Former Demosisto Agnes Chow released from prison today

A bit of good news this morning -- Agnes Chow Ting was released from prison after serving almost seven months for her role in a 15-hours siege of the Wan Chai police headquarters on June 21, 2019 during the anti-government protests.

At around 10am the 24-year-old emerged from Tai Lam Centre for Women in Tuen Mun and was mobbed by almost 100 reporters while a small group of supporters shouted, "Chow Ting add oil!" before getting into a white van.

There was a media frenzy of about 100 reporters 

Reporters noted Chow was much thinner than before and she admitted so in her Instagram post a few hours later.

"The pain that lasted for six months and 20 days has come to an end. What comes next is some good rest and recovery for the body. That's because my body has become really weak and slim during this period of time," she said, adding her comment should be read with a bitter smile.

She was originally jailed last December for 10 months for illegal assembly over the siege of the Wan Chai police headquarters on June 21, 2019. Her early release was due to her good behaviour. She was initially sent to Lo Wu Correctional Institution, but was later transferred to an isolation cell at the Tai Lam facility.

Chow pleaded guilty to charges of incitement and taking part in an unauthorized assembly. Her colleagues, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, 24, and Ivan Lam Long-yin, 26, were also imprisoned over the gathering. 

Chow, Lam, Wong convicted of illegal assembly

The only one among the trio without a previous criminal record, Chow burst into tears in the dock on learning the community service order her lawyers were seeking had been rejected. She has been in custody since entering her guilty plea on November 23.

However Chow is not completely free -- she was also charged under the national security law for colluding with foreign forces on the same day Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was arrested for colluding with foreign forces by calling for sanctions.

So far the police have granted Chow bail and not yet charged her, they still have her passport.

Meanwhile this evening part of the city was crawling with police, with the second anniversary of June 12, 2019, when protesters surrounded the Legislative Council in a bid to prevent the second reading of the now withdrawn extradition bill.  

Protesters at Wan Chai police station June 21, 2019

At least 2,000 officers were on the streets, at one point blocking the Cross Harbour Tunnel to check cars heading to Hong Kong island, and and some even entered two shopping malls, one in Mongkok, the other in Causeway Bay.

Anniversaries will not be forgotten but at the same time the police show up in force creating more tension... never ending...