Agnes Chow Walks Free From Prison

The pro-democracy activist, Agnes Chow, has been released from prison after serving nearly seven months for her role in an anti-government protest in 2019 that saw police officers trapped inside their headquarters in Wan Chai for hours.

Thousands of people laid siege to the building in Wan Chai on June 21 in 2019, demanding the withdrawal of the government's extradition bill, and calling on police to stop describing the protests as "riots".

The crowd blocked the building's entrances, with some protesters vandalising walls and smashing surveillance cameras, but there were no serious clashes with the police.

Chow's fellow activists Joshua Wong, and Ivan Lam were also jailed for their roles in the protest.

Chow also admitted inciting people to join the demonstration as well as taking part herself.

Wong and Lam had been jailed in the past for convictions relating to their activism, but it was the first time that Chow had been given a prison sentence.

Chow was released from the Tai Lam Correctional Institution in Tuen Mun at about 10am and did not speak to media before she was ushered into a car with friends and fellow democracy activists.

Supporters shouted "Agnes Chow add oil", with some wearing black T-shirts and one holding a yellow umbrella, a symbol of the 2014 protests.

Chow, along with Wong and Nathan Law, who has since been given asylum in Britain, came to prominence as teenage activists during the 2014 protests to demand universal suffrage.

The three founded the democracy group Demosisto in 2016, which dissolved hours after Beijing passed a contentious national security law for the city last year amid fears it could be targeted under the legislation. (Additional reporting by Reuters)