‘Any activity on any date' must be lawful, Hong Kong leader says ahead of Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

HKFP

2 days ago

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has said that 'any activity on any date' must comply with the law – ahead of the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on Wednesday.
Endangering national security is a serious offence, Lee warned during a weekly press conference on Tuesday, adding that law enforcement actions would be 'swift and tough.'
'Any activities held on any date must comply with the law. They cannot break the law,' Lee said in Cantonese.
'Law enforcement departments will target any breach of the law in a swift and tough manner in accordance with the law,' he added.
The chief executive made the remarks as a reporter asked him if Hong Kong residents could light candles or wear clothes bearing slogans on June 4 to remember the crackdown in Beijing 36 years ago.
The reporter also asked if merely showing up in Causeway Bay – where annual candlelight vigils used to be held before they were banned by authorities – on Wednesday may risk breaking the law, citing some activists who said they were called by police about their plans on June 4.
Lee made no direct comment on the question. However, he said the authorities would target acts endangering national security and strictly enforce the law.
Hong Kong used to be the only place on Chinese soil – besides Macau – that commemoration of the crackdown could be held in public. Tens of thousands of residents gathered annually in the city's Victoria Park for candlelight vigils on June 4 to mourn the victims, after Beijing sent troops to Tiananmen Square to end months-long pro-democracy protests on that day in 1989.
The number of deaths is not known, but it is believed that hundreds, if not thousands, died during the People's Liberation Army's dispersal of protesters.
Hong Kong police banned the Tiananmen vigil gathering at Victoria Park for the first time in 2020, citing Covid-19 restrictions, and imposed the ban again in 2021, nearly a year after a national security law imposed by Beijing came into effect.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised the vigils, disbanded in September 2021 after several of its members were arrested.
Since then, a heavy police presence could be seen in the areas surrounding Victoria Park on June 4, and individuals doing acts of mourning had been stopped and searched by officers.
Last year, four people were arrested near Causeway Bay on June 4.
Detained barrister-activist Chow Hang-tung, formerly vice chairperson of the Alliance, said in a social media post on Sunday that she would launch a 36-hour hunger strike in prison to mark the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.
Chow, two former Alliance chairpersons, and the Alliance itself stand accused of subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law. They face life behind bars if convicted.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong's mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.