SINGAPORE — Members of the public queued up at the State Courts overnight and some were content to simply wait outside the packed courtroom in a show of support for the six City Harvest Church leaders who were convicted yesterday of criminal breach of trust and/or falsification of accounts.

A 58-year-old property agent began queuing outside the State Courts at 10pm on Tuesday, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported.

At 6am yesterday, close to 100 people were in the queue and queue numbers were given to the first 55 an hour later, according to CNA. They included church members as well as members of the public.

The interest was also intense when the six were charged in 2012 and at the start of their trial back in May 2013, although the public’s court attendance ebbed and flowed in the course of the 140 days.

Yesterday morning, the courtroom was packed while a crowd stood outside. After the session, supporters stood around church founder Kong Hee and his wife Ho Yeow Sun as they conferred with Kong’s lawyer Edwin Tong outside the courtroom, while journalists waited.

The six leaders briefly answered questions as they separately exited the court building. Chew maintained belief in his innocence and said he was more worried about his family, while Tan Ye Peng only said thank you as he walked out with defence lawyer N Sreenivasan.