Security police probe those Tiananmen Square vigil group
THE pro-democracy group that organises Hong Kong’s annual June 4 rally to commemorate those who died in the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 is being investigated by national security police on suspicion of collusion with foreign forces.
Police sent a letter to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China requesting information about its membership, finances and activities by September 7, according to a copy the group sent to reporters.
Similar letters were sent to several individuals and associations that are members of the alliance.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letters accused the alliance of being “an agent of foreign forces”. Failure to provide the information by the deadline could result in a HK$100 000 (about R191 000) fine and six months in jail, the letter said.
The group said in July that it had laid off staff members to ensure their safety and that half of its committee members had resigned.
“It’s ridiculous that the police accused the alliance of being an agent of foreign forces,” said alliance vice-chairperson Chow Hang Tung.
“It has nothing to do with any foreign agents nor has it received any instructions from foreign countries.”
Alliance leaders Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan are already in jail over their roles in anti-government protests that roiled the city in 2019.
The investigation comes days after Civil Human Rights Front, the group that organises Hong Kong’s annual July 1 rally and galvanised millions to take part in street protests in 2019, disbanded after it was investigated by police.
It also marks the latest blow to the opposition movement, which has come under immense pressure since Beijing imposed a national security law last year that punishes broadly defined crimes such as collusion with up to life in prison.
Since then, scores of opposition politicians and activists have been arrested, jailed or fled into exile. Civil society groups have also disbanded, including the Professional Teachers’ Union.