Since 2020, when the new law was promulgated, the demonstrations have been classified as “illegal meetings”
A girl places a bouquet of flowers to pay tribute to the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989, at the place where the statue of the Goddess of Democracy used to stand, at the Chinese university of Hong Kong, after it was removed by school authority, in Hong Kong, China, December 24, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Hong Kong police warned that people run the risk breaking the law if they gather on Saturday to commemorate China’s Tiananmen crackdown, particularly in the city’s Victoria Park, the site of an annual candlelight vigil.
< p class=”paragraph”>Discussion of the crackdown on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese government launched troops and tanks against peaceful protesters, is banned in mainland China. For decades, Hong Kong exercised its semi-autonomy and freedom of speech to hold an annual candlelight memorial for the victims. But after the national security law was introduced in 2020, that came to an end.
For the past two years, authorities have banned gatherings in Victoria Park on the anniversary, citing pandemic restrictions that many say were being misused to silence the vigil. Last year, thousands of riot police were placed on high alert.
This year, Hong Kong police warned people who are at risk of breaking laws against illegal gatherings and incitement if they try to commemorate the anniversary on Saturday, regardless of the number.
“When there are other people there and they share a common goal to voice some calls, that’s already enough to make you a member of an illegal assembly,” Senior Superintendent Liauw Ka-kei said Thursday.
< p class=”paragraph”>When asked if residents can wear black clothing, bring flowers or candles, and appear near the park, he said: “If that person makes us feel that the purpose of their appearance is to incite others, of course we will look for evidence.”
He said police had noted calls on social media to meet at the park on Saturday, but did not provide details.
Liauw also said anyone promoting an unauthorized gathering in Victoria Park, even if they don’t come forward themselves, they will have broken the law. Gatherings elsewhere would be treated similarly, he added.
Since the security law took effect in 2020, a campaign to remove all traces of Tiananmen has swept the city. .
Students place candles and images of the Goddess of Democracy statue, to pay tribute to the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989, at the place where the statue used to stand, in the Chinese university of Hong Kong, after being removed by the school authority, in Hong Kong, China, December 24, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Dozens of lawmakers and activists, including many related to the vigil, are in jail.The Hong Kong Alliance, the most prominent Tiananmen advocacy group and organizer of the vigil, was prosecuted as a “foreign agent” for inciting subversion. Last September, its leaders were arrested, its museum was shut down after a police raid, and digital records were wiped overnight.
Last December, the University of Hong Kong removed its “Pillar of Shame,” a sculpture commemorating the victims of the massacre that stood for two decades.
The crackdown has cast a chilling shadow over the remaining defenders of democracy, as well as over the media, the arts, and the legal profession. Many have been targeted by pro-Beijing newspapers, published on lists of accused subversives, while human rights lawyers have come under suspicion for representing clients.
This year, for the first time, the city’s Catholic diocese, whose 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of collusion with foreign forces, decided not to hold memorial masses for fear of the security.
Liauw said police had not received any requests to host an assembly in the park on June 4 this year, but officers would still monitor the area.
Four of the six soccer fields in the park have been reserved from early morning until around midnight “by individual citizens for the purpose of playing soccer”, said the Hong Kong Department of Cultural and Leisure Services. The other two camps have been sealed for “maintenance” since early May.
When asked if lighting a candle on a private balcony was illegal, a move many have embraced in the past two years in the absence of other options, Liauw said he didn’t see any law prohibiting it.