Hong Kong teenage activist Tony Chung was convicted of desecrating the Chinese national flag and participating in an unlawful assembly, in Eastern Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Chung, the former head of the pro-independence group Studentlocalism, was remanded into custody and is scheduled to reappear in court on Dec. 29. Chung faces separate charges under Hong Kong’s new national security law as well as several counts of money-laundering and conspiring to publish seditious materials.

The court on Friday convicted Chung for his role in a protest demonstration last year outside Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, amid civic unrest related to the controversial extradition bill. He was accused of throwing a Chinese national flag into the air after snatching it from a pro-Beijing demonstrator.

The 19-year-old Chung has been in custody since October, following his high-profile arrest near the city’s United States Consulate in Central, on suspicion of committing a national security offence. Chung was reportedly hoping to seek asylum at the consulate, and has been refused bail since then.

In explaining his verdict, magistrate Wong Nga-yan said Chung’s actions desecrated the national flag and damaged public order.

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