Jackie Chen has been stripped of her social worker licence for five years after being convicted and jailed earlier this year for rioting during the 2019 protests.
Chen, 48, was deregistered by the Social Workers Registration Board on Tuesday, after the regulator concluded that she “had not shown remorse” in her statement when seeking a renewal of her licence, according to local media reports.
Her licence, which expired in February, was suspended for five years with immediate effect.
Herman Hui, chair of the registration board, said the licencing body could not comment on whether the court’s ruling was right or wrong. If an individual was convicted, then he or she was guilty, he said.
“Certainly, if she does appeal and her conviction is overturned, we will review the matter again — it would be as if she were not guilty, and it would no longer affect her. But for now, in our consideration, we must treat the court’s judgment as correct,” Hui said.
On Wednesday, the licencing board’s website still showed Chen’s registration as “renewal application being deliberated.”
In response to HKFP’s enquiries, the registration board said it would not comment on individual cases. A deregistered social worker may reapply for their licence after the removal period ends, subject to the board’s approval, it said.
To date, two registered social workers have permanently lost their licences due to convictions for offences endangering national security, the board told HKFP.
Separately, 24 social workers have been removed from the register for up to five years following convictions for offences that “bring the profession of social worker into disrepute” and are punishable by imprisonment.
Under the Social Workers Registration Ordinance, the regulatory body may remove the name of a social worker from the register if they have been convicted in the city or elsewhere of an offence that “may bring the profession of social worker into disrepute,” and is punishable with imprisonment.
Chen was jailed for three years and nine months in April, after she was found guilty of taking part in a riot in Wan Chai on August 31, 2019.
Frequently seen on the frontlines of the 2019 unrest, Chen was said to have made “fictitious” allegations about police when she spoke through the loudhailer during the protest. She was heard telling police not to carry out a “big chase and killing” during the demonstration, which the judge found to be “clearly” untrue.
The social worker was initially cleared of rioting midway through her first trial in September 2020, but the Department of Justice successfully appealed the acquittal. She pleaded not guilty when she faced a retrial in December 2024.
She filed an appeal against her conviction and sentence last month.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Last year, Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature passed a bill that gave government appointees a majority in the city’s social workers’ licensing body.
