Three Hong Kong protesters were sentenced to up to 66 months in prison on Friday, for rioting and assaulting a mainland journalist during an anti-government protest at Hong Kong International Airport in 2019.

The crimes occurred as thousands of protesters occupied the airport in August 2019, amid a months-long protest movement. The demonstrations opposed a legislative bill to enable extradition of Hong Kong suspects to mainland China, to face trial before a judiciary controlled by the Chinese Community Party.

The three-day protest at the airport effectively halted almost 1,000 flights. On Aug. 14, Fu Guohao, a mainland journalist working at the country’s mouthpiece Global Times newspaper, was surrounded, tied up and beaten by demonstrators for about 50 minutes.

District Judge Clement Lee said on Friday that the three defendants’ conduct had humiliated and saddened many Hong Kong people, marring the city’s reputation for conducting peaceful demonstrations.

The trio’s behavior that night was “extremely provocative, insulting and invasive” and required deterrent penalties, Lee added in his ruling.

Lai Yun-long, 20, Amy Pat, 23, and Ho Ka-lo, 29, were convicted of rioting and assault causing bodily harm. They were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of 63 months, 51 months and 66 months, respectively. Pat was already serving a jail sentence for another rioting conviction.

Lai was also convicted of obstructing public officers, while Part was found guilty of false imprisonment by confining Fu. Ho had earlier admitted to possessing an offensive weapon.

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