The Court of Appeal in Hong Kong sentenced three student activists on Thursday to jail terms of six to eight months for their roles in the "Occupy Central" movement in 2014, after the government sought to toughen their original sentences.

The trio - Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwunchung and Alex Chow Yongkang - led more than 100 protesters who stormed into the forecourt of the east wing of the government headquarters in Admiralty district two days before the protest broke out in September 2014.

In the 64-page judgment passed down on Thursday, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal Wally Yeung Chun-kuen said the crime was "severe" and "needed to be deterred".