Umbrella Movement leader Alex Chow has been granted a visa to study in the UK after several weeks of delay.
Chow is due to appear in court next Wednesday after being convicted of unlawful assembly for storming Admiralty’s Civic Square in 2014 during the Umbrella Movement pro-democracy protests. The Department of Justice is seeking a review of his three week jail sentence with a one year suspension. His colleague Joshua Wong was sentenced to a community service order of 80 hours whilst lawmaker-elect Nathan Law received a community service order of 120 hours.
“I do not fear being jailed,” Chow said on Facebook Saturday, “as it will only once again demonstrate the absurdity and ignorance of DOJ [Department of Justice] and the HK government.”
The academic year at the London School of Economics is due to begin next week but the 26-year-old considered cancelling his flight owing to the slow processing of his priority visa.
He applied through the British consulate on August 23 but was told by the Foreign Office that there were “a number of reasons why we may not be able to meet our processing targets.”
The process usually takes three to four working days.
