Benny Tai Yiu-ting, born in Hong Kong on 12 July 1964, was born and educated in Hong Kong and read law at the University of Hong Kong, taking an LL.B. in 1986 and a P.C.LL. in 1987, before studying at the University of London for a master's degree in law. He taught at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law and rose to associate professor, specialising in constitutional law, administrative law, human rights law and law and religion, and was associate dean of the faculty from 2000 to 2008. In January 2013 he published a newspaper article arguing for civil disobedience to secure universal suffrage for the Chief Executive, and on 27 March 2013 he joined Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming to launch Occupy Central with Love and Peace, a campaign of limited, non-violent occupation aimed at pressing Beijing and the Hong Kong government to offer voters a genuine choice in the 2017 Chief Executive election. The occupation began on 28 September 2014 and grew into the seventy-nine-day Umbrella Movement. In 2016 he proposed the Thunderbolt plan urging democrats to vote strategically, in 2018 the Wind and Cloud plan encouraging them to contest district councils, and in 2020 he helped coordinate the democrats' 35+ legislative primaries. On 28 July 2020 HKU's governing Council voted 18 to 2 to dismiss him immediately. Charged in March 2017 with other defendants, he was convicted on 9 April 2019 of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance and incitement to commit a public nuisance, and jailed for sixteen months on 24 April; he was released on bail pending appeal in August. He was arrested on 6 January 2021 in a sweeping police round-up over the democrats' primaries and in February 2021 was charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in the so-called Hong Kong 47 case; he pleaded guilty and on 19 November 2024 received ten years, the longest sentence in that case.
Benny Tai's theory of civil disobedience directly helped trigger the 2014 Umbrella Movement and made him one of the best-known figures of Hong Kong's democracy movement. His prosecutions and sentences are landmark cases touching public order and national security in post-handover Hong Kong. His dismissal by HKU in 2020 also focused attention on how universities handle political controversy involving their staff.
Achievements
- 2013 · Launched Occupy Central with Love and Peace with Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming
- 2014 · The occupation grew into the 79-day Umbrella Movement
- 2016 · Proposed the Thunderbolt strategic-voting plan for democrats
- 2019 · Sentenced to 16 months in prison in the Occupy Central case
- 2020 · Dismissed immediately by HKU's Council on an 18-to-2 vote
- 2024 · Sentenced to 10 years in the Hong Kong 47 case, the longest term