Expressive Solidarity in Courtrooms: Defiant Senior Citizens in Post-National Security Law Hong Kong

The 2020 National Security Law has redrawn political space in Hong Kong. Following mass mobilisation against a controversial extradition bill in 2019, thousands of protesters were prosecuted. Pro-democracy citizens in the city were silenced or opted for incognito or covert resistance. Surprisingly, court spectators conveyed overt resistance that was observable by the authorities and the defendants in political trials. As surprising, was that an overwhelming majority of court spectators were senior citizens who had not been active members in contentious politics. This study draws on 15 in-depth interviews and three years of political trial observations after the National Security Law took effect. Senior citizens converted a space of legal justice into a resistance and affective site. Their activism communicated dual political signalling – overt disapproval of the prosecutions to the powerholders and expressive solidarity with the defendants. This study introduces a framework that synthesises resistance and solidarity in non-democratic settings, and it explores inter-generational bonding and emotions in court spectatorship – an under-examined form of legal mobilisation in social movement studies. The expansion of counter-movement and police operations in court hearings reflects the regime’s displeasure with expressive solidarity in courtrooms.