Thirteen prominent Hong Kong democracy advocates yesterday appeared in court charged with holding an unauthorized gathering to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre, the latest in a string of prosecutions against protest leaders in the restless territory.
Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers last month defied a ban on rallies to mark the June 4 anniversary of Beijing’s deadly 1989 crackdown on students pushing for democracy.
The annual vigil has been held in Hong Kong for the past three decades and usually attracts huge crowds. It has taken on particular significance in the past few years as the semi-autonomous territory chafes under Beijing’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
Photo: AP
This year’s vigil was banned for the first time, with authorities citing COVID-19 measures. At the time local transmission had largely been halted.
However, thousands turned out to hold candles in their neighborhoods and in Victoria Park, the traditional site of the vigil.
Police later arrested 13 leading advocates who appeared at the Victoria Park vigil.
All appeared in court yesterday to be formally charged with “inciting” an unlawful assembly, which carries up to five years in jail.
Among them are Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the millionaire owner of the openly pro-democracy Apple Daily, veteran democracy advocates such as Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and Albert Ho (何俊仁), as well as young campaigner Figo Chan (陳皓桓).
When asked if he understood the charge, Lee invoked the hundreds who were killed by Chinese tanks and soldiers at Tiananmen.
“This is political persecution,” he said. “The real incitement is the massacre conducted by the Chinese Communist Party 31 years ago.”
Some of those charged — and many other leading democracy figures — face separate prosecutions related to last year’s huge pro-democracy protests.
China’s leaders have rejected calls to give Hong Kongers universal suffrage and portrayed the protests as a plot by foreigners to destabilize the motherland.
Earlier this month, Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation aimed at stamping out the protests once and for all.
The law targets subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, with sentences including life in prison.
However, its broad phrasing — such as a ban on encouraging hatred toward China’s government — has sent fear rippling through a territory used to being able to speak its mind.
Police have arrested people for possessing pro-independence or autonomy material, libraries and schools have pulled books, political parties have disbanded and one prominent opposition politician has fled.
The legislation bypassed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and its contents were kept secret until the moment it was enacted.
It empowered China’s security apparatus to set up shop openly in Hong Kong for the first time, while Beijing has also claimed jurisdiction for some serious national security cases — ending the legal firewall between the mainland and the territory’s independent judiciary.
China has also announced global jurisdiction to pursue national security crimes committed by anyone outside of Hong Kong and China, including foreigners.
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