A Hong Kong court on Wednesday began to hear bail applications from eight of the 47 democracy advocates charged with subversion of state power under the city’s national security law.

The eight applications were the last to be processed, after Chief Magistrate Victor So presided over a total of 25 hours of submissions since the first day, on Monday. He was expected to arrive at a decision after the remaining eight were presented.

In the morning, citizens again queued in front of the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, though their numbers were largely reduced from the first day.

A student surnamed Chung, 13, said he had shown up on all three days. He said he wanted to know the results of the bail applications and to understand what the national security law was all about.

Another citizen said that he had been attending court since Monday and had stayed in the courtroom until midnight.

“Today is the last of the eight defendants applying for bail. I didn’t sleep at all. I have come here to support them and also to support myself,” the man told Apple Daily.

As temperatures dropped on Wednesday, some people brought jackets, hot drinks and sandwiches to the venue and distributed the items to other supporters.

All the defendants were arranged to take cold showers on Tuesday night, according to a handwritten note sent by one of them, Ventus Lau, to his girlfriend.

Authorities made the arrangements only after complaints from defense lawyers to the magistrate, that their clients were getting no chance to rest or take care of their personal hygiene since police placed them in detention on Sunday.

Lau wrote that he could finally get some sleep, and had beef with rice for breakfast in the morning. He also said the defendants were able to talk to one another inside the detention center, making the occasion something of a “grand reconciliation for pan-democrats,” according to the girlfriend.

Before the Wednesday proceedings started, reporters and families of the accused expressed dissatisfaction with the court’s provisions, as they were sitting in an observation courtroom but could hear nothing from the supposedly livestreaming session, where the lawyers and defendants were in attendance together with the magistrate. One family member asked if it was a “secret trial.”

Margaret Ng, a barrister, said that the magistrate should not restrict the content of what was going on, given that the family members and media were unable to observe the proceedings in the actual courtroom.

A senior press officer of the judiciary told the audience that no audio arrangement would be provided before the session started.

Things finally got underway at 12:45 p.m., which was 45 minutes later than scheduled.

Barrister David Ma told the court that he had received media enquiries requesting the magistrate to strike out a restriction on reporting bail proceedings under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance 9P(1) in the interest of public justice.

Members of the public had a right to know what was at issue in the case, Ma said. He believed the arguments would help citizens, including legal scholars in Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as local judges, to better understand the relevant legal clauses.

Lead prosecutor Maggie Yang, deputy director of public prosecutions at the Department of Justice, objected to the request, the court heard.

The ordinance clearly stated what sort of information could be disclosed, Yang said. She could not see why there was a need to report bail details for “public justice” purposes.

In response, the magistrate So said that he had received the media application. He also voiced concern over news reports that covered what defendants said and did in court.

So might order the media to refrain from reporting on the charges so as not to prejudice the trial in the future, Ma suggested.

In the current case, 47 defendants aged 23 to 64 are each charged with one count of “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the national security law, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors earlier argued for keeping all 47 in custody while the police continued their investigation. The defense countered that it would be taking undue advantage of stringent bail rules stated in the national security law.

The legal proceedings started on Monday morning and adjourned at around 2 a.m. after district councilor Clarisse Yeung fainted in court. Over the last two days, another four defendants had also been taken to hospital after they complained of feeling unwell. One of them was later discharged and then re-admitted for feeling unwell.

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