Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Agnes Chow released from jail
Agnes Chow, a prominent pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, was released from jail Saturday morning, after more than six months behind bars.
The 24-year-old opposition protester was serving time for her involvement in a 15-hour siege of police headquarters in 2019 — one of the many anti-government demonstrations that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of the former British colony.
According to The Associated Press, Chow was released from the Tai Lam Center for Women in Hong Kong’s New Territories district around 10 a.m. local time.
She was greeted by a crowd of journalists and a small group of protesters, as she was transferred from a prison van to a private car.
She didn’t make any remarks.
Chow was sentenced to 10 months in jail, but the reason for her early release is unclear. The Correctional Services Department hasn’t immediately answered media requests for comments.
The young activist was charged with inciting and taking part in an unauthorized assembly on June 21, 2019. She was sentenced on Dec. 2, 2020, a day before her birthday, according to Nikkei Asia.
Fellow activists Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam were convicted on similar charges and sentenced to 13½ months and seven months, respectively.
On Saturday, some of the supporters waiting for her release chanted, “Agnes Chow add oil,” an expression in Cantonese used as a form of encouragement and support, Reuters reported.
Some wore black T-shirts and yellow masks, and at least one protester held a yellow umbrella, which has been used as a symbol of resistance in Hong Kong since 2014.
Chow, who gained notoriety in Hong Kong as a teenage activist during the “umbrella movement” in 2014, later took to Instagram to thank her supporters who stood in the rain to greet her.
She added that her next plan was to rest properly.
Chow has a large following in Japan, a country she would visit frequently before her arrest. She often posts on social media writing in fluent Japanese, leading the country’s media to nickname her a “goddess of democracy.”
