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-39- was first seen in the protest on 21 July 2019 outside the LOCPG after Leung’s debut usage.

113. From the foregoing, Professor Lau concluded that the context of the Chinese Slogan on 1 July 2020 was not significantly different from the context in which it was presented at Leung’s campaign rally for the New Territories East By-election held on 20 February 2016.

114. Furthermore, Professor Lau made the important point that the two parts of the words in question (ie “光復香港” and “時代革命”) have a close semantic connection and cannot be construed separately. They must be viewed as a phrase of words or slogan as a whole.

115. Having considered the customary usage of the words or compound words from a historical perspective and the context in which they were used, Professor Lau was of the opinion that at the material time on 1 July 2020, as a whole, the fundamental agenda and meaning of the Chinese Slogan was “to cause the consequence of separating the territory of residence from the State sovereignty; in the context of Hong Kong’s political language, these words were raised necessarily for the objective of separating the HKSAR from the PRC.”

116. Under cross-examination, Professor Lau elaborated that the eight words meant: through changing the government or changing the regime, to take back Hong Kong in order to change this era. To take back Hong Kong meant to take back the governance of the HKSARG under the PRC regime. Further, according to the conventional usage of the words, it is to achieve this objective by violence.