Hong Kong activist detained amid Tiananmen vigil clampdown

Hong Kong police arrested lawyer and activist Chow Hang Tung on Friday morning, media reported.

According to reports and statements from fellow activists, Chow was arrested outside her office over an annual vigil to commemorate the victims of China's deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Four police officers dressed in plainclothes said that she was being detained under section 17A of the Public Order Ordinance, which involves promoting unlawful assemblies, reported news agency AFP.

Why was Chow targeted?

Chow is the vice chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which operates the June 4 museum and organizes the annual vigil in the city's Victoria Park.

Hong Kong authorities banned the vigil for the second year in a row and closed the museum earlier this week, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

Though the alliance said it would not run the vigil this year, Chow — a prominent figure in the city's pro-democracy movement — had previously indicated that she would go to Victoria Park on Friday night in a personal capacity.

"As long as they haven't said candles are illegal, we will light a candle," she said earlier this week. "It's a sign of whether we can defend our bottom line of morality. ... That's the test."

"There will obviously be fear and people cannot just assume that they can come and express their remembrance for the Tiananmen massacre victims and be unscathed," she had said.

Chow added that she hopes for democracy in Hong Kong and China. "This is something worth fighting for. If one day we cannot talk about Tiananmen that would signify that Hong Kong is totally assimilated into Chinese society."

What is the June 4 anniversary?

On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops crushed protests in and around the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, leaving hundreds of — and by some estimates more than 1,000 — peaceful protesters dead.

The protesters, who were mostly students, had been demonstrating for week. Many of them had gone on hunger strike to demand democracy and freedom and an end to state corruption.

Wu'er Kaixi, one of the student leaders in 1989, told DW: "We never thought the Chinese government would actually mobilize standing troops against peaceful demonstrators ... to imagine the Chinese regime open fire at its own people." 

Hong Kong: Distant focal point of commemoration

Hong Kong, where people have enjoyed more freedom than those in China, has seen huge crowds gather each year for the past three decades to mark the anniversary of the bloody crackdown.

The city's Victoria Park was where one of the biggest candlelit vigils typically took place to remember those killed and to call on China to embrace democracy.

For the past two years, authorities had denied permission for the vigil, both times citing the pandemic. But last year, thousands defied the ban in a show of resistance to Beijing.

This time, many of the key figures who had been organizing the vigil for decades were sentenced to more than a year in jail for allegedly participating in an "unauthorized assembly" in 2019.

Authorities shut Victoria Park 

On Friday, a large swathe of the park was closed off for the first time in 32 years. Police said the reason for the closure was that many on social media called on people to defy the ban and rally in the area.

Police said they had the right to remove anyone from the area with "necessary forces," and added that those who break into the closed off area could face up to 12 months in jail.

Many activists and pro-democracy supporters were planning to visit the park to pay their respects.

Dodging the restrictions

Despite these measures, many are planning creative ways to mark the anniversary. 

Chow Hang Tung called on people to light candles in their own homes or neighborhoods on Friday evening, or post commemoration messages on social media.

"Turn on the lights wherever you are — be it torchlight on your phone, real candles or electronic candles," she had said on Facebook, just hours before her arrest.

DW reporter Phoebe Kong observed some Hong Kong residents shining the lights on their cell phones in Victoria Park. Others lit candles wherever they stood at 8 p.m. local time in memoriam. 

Commemorating the June 4 anniversary in China has always been banned. The day is usually marked with heightened security at Tiananmen square and the area being cordoned off.

There's also increased online censorship, with Chinese social media taking down all reference to the events, including June Fourth and "May 35th" (adding 4 to the 31 days of May, to avoid writing June 4), among others.

Police patrolled the square on Friday, checking IDs of people at each point of access, according to news agency AFP.

What have foreign leaders said?

China's efforts to snuff of the remembrance of the massacre has drawn international criticism.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his country would "honor the sacrifices of those killed 32 years ago, and the brave activists who carry on their efforts today in the face of ongoing government repression."

"The Tiananmen demonstrations are echoed in the struggle for democracy and freedom in Hong Kong, where a planned vigil to commemorate the massacre in Tiananmen Square was banned by local authorities," Blinken said.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen also said that her people would not forget what had happened in and around Tiananmen Square 32 years ago.

"We will also not forget about the young people who sacrificed themselves on Tiananmen Square on this day 32 years ago, and that year after year, friends in Hong Kong who always mourn June 4 with candlelight," she said.

adi/msh (AFP, Reuters, AP)