SINGAPORE - Bloggers Han Hui Hui and Roy Ngerng, who led a Sept 27 Hong Lim Park protest that disrupted a charity carnival, will face two charges for causing public nuisance and staging a demonstration at the park without approval.
Their lawyer M. Ravi said they had been summoned to court on Monday.
If convicted, they could be fined up to a maximum of $1,000 for the first charge, and $5,000 for the second charge.
Under the Parks and Trees Act, no one can carry out public speaking activities; organise or participate in a performance or exhibition; or organise any demonstration, unless with the approval of the Commissioner of Parks and Trees.
During the Sept 27 protest, which Ms Han organised, she and Mr Ngerng had led several hundred people in a march, encroaching into a nearby YMCA charity carnival and scaring special needs children who were performing on stage.
Ms Han, 22, who was at the Police Cantonment Complex on Friday had said before receving her summons that she would " fight it out".
"But we haven't decided what's going to happen because we haven't gone to court. It depends on what the court says first," she told reporters.
Meanwhile, several others who took part in the protest have been asked to turn up at the State Court in Havelock Square on Monday to answer to public nuisance charges.
Two others were issued conditional warnings.
A conditional warning means they must not commit any offence for a specified period, usually for 12 or 24 months. Should they do so, they will be charged with the new as well as the existing offences.
The conditional warning was issued for an offence of public nuisance, under Section 268 of the Penal Code.
Mr Ngerng, who is currently being sued by the Singapore prime minister for defamation over a blog post alleging misappropriation of Central Provident Fund monies, said on Friday: "We have not done anything illegal. We have done everything legal within our constitutional rights. I think if anything, we do this (protest) out of respect for Singaporeans."
Mr Ravi said the public nuisance charge was "misplaced" since his clients had been given a "permit" to march.
He added: "If there was any criminality, the least the police could have done was to prevent or stop the alleged nuisance from taking place in their presence.
A supporter of Ms Han and Mr Ngerng, blogger and financial adviser Leong Sze Hian, 60, said Ms Han's parents, who work in the food industry, have been quietly supportive of her. He had been at the Police Cantonment Complex with Ms Han on Friday.
