A veteran Hong Kong opposition activist popularly known by her Cantonese nickname “Wong Po Po” or “Grandma Wong” has been jailed for four days over her refusal to present her identity card to police officers during a protest in January last year.

Alexandra Wong Fung-yiu, 65, was sentenced at Kwun Tong Court on Tuesday after being found guilty of obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duties.

Wong has long been a familiar sight at protests and outside court buildings, where she can often be seen waving the British Union flag or holding up a yellow umbrella to support fellow activists and young people charged in connection with various anti-government demonstrations.

Alexandra Wong at Kwun Tong Court.

The court heard that Wong was staging a protest at a pedestrian safety island on Tong Ming Street in Tseung Kwan O at about 6.45pm on January 22 last year to mark the death of fellow activist Chan Yin-lam.

Chan’s death has been the subject of wild conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated rumours among many anti-government protesters ever since her naked body was found at sea on September 22, 2019, about three months into the unprecedented social unrest.

Some protesters believe the government and police covered up her death and activists have since marked her death on the 22nd day of every month.

The allegations have been categorically denied and condemned by the government and police. The force has said there was nothing suspicious about the teenager’s death and she had not been arrested at protests.

An inquest in 2020 resulted in an open verdict.

During the January 22 protest, police officers ordered Wong to leave the area for the safety of other road users and asked her to show her ID card, the court was told. She instead asked officers to explain the legal basis of their request and said she could not find her card, while continuing to hold up a yellow umbrella, the court heard.

After repeated warnings, Wong was arrested for obstructing police and taken to Tseung Kwan O police station, where officers searched her bag and found her ID card.

Magistrate Lau Suk-han rejected Wong’s defence that she had meant to produce the card after she finished her protest. Representing herself at trial, she argued she was unaware the officers were carrying out their duties.

In her mitigation plea, Wong said: “That I am convicted is 100 per cent a foregone conclusion. Hong Kong has changed. My conviction is nothing when compared with the lives of people, especially of the young people.”

She added: “I am old, but I still have a lot of things I want to do.”

After hearing the sentence, Wong shouted “Five demands, not one less” – a popular slogan among protesters during the 2019 unrest – before she was escorted away.

This was not Wong’s first run-in with the law. She was last month found guilty of obstructing police by failing to present her ID card at a protest in February marking Chan’s death and sentenced to seven days in prison, which was suspended for a year.

Last July, she was jailed for one month after being found guilty of assaulting a security guard at the High Court in January 2019.

Last week, she appeared at Eastern Court after being charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly on August 11, 2019, in Quarry Bay and Sai Wan Ho. The case was adjourned to April, but the court is due to reconvene on February 10, pending confirmation from Wong that she had received all the relevant documents from the prosecution.