6 days ago
‘US 8964' car owner ships vehicle abroad ahead of Tiananmen crackdown anniversary following harassment
The owner of a sports car with the licence plate 'US 8964' has said that he shipped his vehicle abroad ahead of the 36th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown after receiving harassment.
Anthony Chiu, whose Porsche bears the licence plate 'US 8964,' told HKFP on Wednesday that his vehicle was sent out of Hong Kong in recent weeks after he and his family members faced harassment since last year's Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.
Letters from unknown individuals were sent to his residence, workplace, and family members, Chiu said. The letters, seen by HKFP, contained his personal information, photos of his sports car, and accusations that he may have breached the Beijing-imposed national security law.
He refused to disclose publicly where he sent his car.
The 39-year-old car owner said that the first year he took his car out for a spin on 4 June, the national security law was already in place, and he had no intention of doing anything to 'incite others.'
'I was just driving a car on the street legally. That's it. I didn't think this would eventually lead to the harassment I faced over the past year,' he said in Cantonese.
The harassment became more serious over the past few weeks as the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown approached, he added.
The situation in Hong Kong 'changed so rapidly that it reached a point where it became unacceptable to me and my family,' he said. 'This is why I chose to send my car away.'
Wednesday marked 36 years since the Chinese military clamped down on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989. The bloody crackdown ended months of student-led demonstrations across the country, and it is estimated that hundreds, possibly thousands, died in the event.
Chiu's car was impounded by police on June 4 last year on the Eastern Corridor. He said in a social media post shared at the time that he had been followed while driving his sports car from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island and that it might be the last time his car would make an appearance on June 4.
It was not the first time Chiu's car had been stopped by the police before being towed away.
On June 4, 2023, Chiu's car was impounded by the police in Causeway Bay, citing his embossed licence plate and brakes as the reasons.
On June 4, 2022, Chiu drove his car in Causeway Bay and was stopped by police outside Windsor House on Great George Street. When asked by HKFP, a traffic cop said at the time that he did not know why the car had been stopped.
Victoria Park in Causeway Bay was the former site of annual vigils attended by tens of thousands of residents commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
Authorities 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.
On Wednesday, the 'Sabertooth' armoured vehicle was spotted on Great George Street in Causeway Bay, as groups of uniformed officers patrolled areas near Victoria Park.
Hundreds of police officers have also been deployed in Causeway Bay. Officers – both in uniform and plainclothes – are stationed in the Causeway Bay MTR station, outside the Sogo department store, as well as in and around Victoria Park.
More than a dozen individuals have been brought into police vans, though it is unclear whether they were under arrest.
Some of the individuals were holding electric candles or flowers, while one of the men questioned by police was wearing a white T-shirt featuring a drawing of the Goddess of Democracy and a Chinese slogan that read, 'Vindication of June 4 comes closer and closer.'
