Hong Kong: Tiananmen vigil leaders held after refusing to cooperate with investigation

Four senior members of the group that organises Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigil were arrested after a series of raids by police. The vice chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (Hong Kong Alliance), Chow Hang-tung, was taken away from her office on 8 September, according to Al Jazeera. The Committee members Leung Kam-wai, Tang Ngok-kwan and Chan Dor-wai were also apprehended  by the Hong Kong Police. 

According to the media outlet, the four activists had broken the national security law by refusing to provide information demanded for an investigation. Last month, the HK police had accused the Alliance of alleged “collusion with foreign powers”. They had demanded the group to hand over details of their membership and finances. 

Tuesday was the deadline set by the officials to provide the information, however, the group said that it would not be doing so. The police, therefore, said that failure to provide the details by the deadline could result in a $12,860 fine and six months in jail. 

China's crackdown on dissent

The group organises the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park every June since 1989 to mark the anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.The event is attended annually by massive crowds. The gatherings have, however, been banned for the past two years with authorities blaming the COVID-19 pandemic.

But critics believe that the ban is part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the city following months of the anti-government demonstration in 2019. China imposed the national security law on the former British colony last June. It outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion. Since the implementation of the law, authorities have arrested dozens of pro-democracy protesters. 

Critics say that the law restricts freedoms Hong Kong was promised it could maintain for 50 years following the territory's 1997 handover to China from colonial Britain. Following the imposition of the draconian law, many pro-democracy organisations have also been disbanded due to safety concerns. The Hong Kong alliance is one of the few outspoken pro-democracy groups in the city that has yet to announce dissolution. 

(Image: AP)