Thirteen in court over 2019 storming of Hong Kong legislature

File photo of a protester defacing the Hong Kong emblem after protesters broke into the government headquarters in Hong Kong on July 1, 2019. - AFP

HONG KONG (AFP): A Hong Kong court on Monday (May 29) began the trial of 13 people over the storming and ransacking of the city's legislature in 2019, which was an unprecedented challenge to the Beijing-backed government.

It was the most violent episode in the initial phase of the huge pro-democracy protests that shook Hong Kong that year, with millions marching and staging sit-ins for weeks.