Nov 3, 6:56 AM (ET)
By WILLOW DUTTGE
HONG KONG (AP) - A British resident of Hong Kong was convicted of disorderly conduct and causing a public nuisance for dressing as a horse and running on a popular race track last year to urge full democracy in the Chinese territory.
Matt Pearce, a longtime Hong Kong resident from Bristol, England, was given a one-month jail term Wednesday for each of the two charges, but the sentences were suspended for 18 months.
He had pleaded innocent to both charges.
The 30-year-old English teacher donned a horse costume emblazoned with the words "Demand Democracy Now" on Dec. 12, 2004, and ran on the Shatin race track. He said he was following the example of British suffragette Emily Davison, who in 1913 ran onto a British race track demanding women's right to vote, and was killed by a horse.
"I'm shocked," Pearce said of his sentence.
"We consider the sentence manifestly excessive," said Pearce's lawyer, Michael Vidler. "The more common sentence would have been a fine."
The activist has lodged appeals of the convictions and sentences, Vidler said.
Pearce said the sentence may not deter him from staging more stunts in the future.
"The government is trying to stop me, but I'm not someone who's easily stopped," Pearce said. "If it comes down to it, I'm prepared to go to prison for my belief in democracy."
The Hong Kong Jockey Club, sole operator of Hong Kong's horse races, said it welcomed the verdict.
"We hope the conviction sends a clear message that this sort of activity will not be tolerated," the club said in a statement.
Pearce, who has been living in the former British colony since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, is best known for dressing up as Spider-Man and climbing on top of a jumbo TV screen in Hong Kong's central business district to protest Beijing's bloody crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
He was also charged with causing a public nuisance for that protest but no trial date has been set.
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