{"id":192317,"date":"2021-06-04T16:20:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=58735"},"modified":"2021-06-04T16:20:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:20:37","slug":"remembering-tiananmen-in-hong-kong-an-increasingly-risky-act-of-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/06\/04\/remembering-tiananmen-in-hong-kong-an-increasingly-risky-act-of-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Tiananmen in Hong Kong: An increasingly risky act of resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Oiwan Lam in Hong Kong<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong police on June 4 deployed 7000 officers in Victoria Park and across the city to ensure that there was no organised commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in public spaces.<\/p>\n<p>At 7.40 am, four police officers arrested democracy activist Chow Hang-tung outside her office building to prevent her from heading to Victoria Park. There have been no reports indicating that she has been released.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong held candlelight vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre for three decades.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/6\/4\/tiananmen-vigil-stifled-but-hong-kong-activists-say-history-not-erased\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Tiananmen vigil stifled but HK activists say history \u2018not erased\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 2020, Hong Kong police banned the event for the first time, citing anti-coronavirus measures. Victoria Park is the park where the vigils were held.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Her crime? Standing up for justice. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IF8Z1BHvey\">https:\/\/t.co\/IF8Z1BHvey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Maya Wang \u738b\u677e\u83b2 (@wang_maya) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wang_maya\/status\/1400618012185710593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Chow is the vice-president of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (HK Alliance), the group that organised the annual vigil.<\/p>\n<p>She told press that she would go to Victoria Park on her own and light a candle on June 4, despite the threat of jail time for \u201cinciting illegal assembly\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HongKongPolice?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HongKongPolice<\/a> will deploy 7,000 officers at Victoria Park and across the city on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/June4th?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#June4th<\/a> to stop HKers from commemorating the 1989 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TiananmenSquareMassacre?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TiananmenSquareMassacre<\/a>. People wearing black, chanting slogans or holding candles may be arrested. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KNHU1imGuf\">https:\/\/t.co\/KNHU1imGuf<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AppleDailyENG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AppleDailyENG<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sTpjj5sCFD\">pic.twitter.com\/sTpjj5sCFD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Apple Daily HK \u860b\u679c\u65e5\u5831 (@appledaily_hk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/appledaily_hk\/status\/1400416398896099331?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Lawyer and activist Chow Hang Tung is fighting to keep the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown alive in Hong Kong, despite facing possible imprisonment for publicly commemorating the event <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LhBGNiIBvV\">https:\/\/t.co\/LhBGNiIBvV<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ps447HiilX\">pic.twitter.com\/ps447HiilX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Quicktake\/status\/1400188232634187780?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>24 activists charged<\/strong><br \/>\nAt least 24 pro-democracy activists were charged with participating in last year\u2019s unauthorised vigil, of whom four have been sentenced to jail terms up to 10 months.<\/p>\n<p>The others are awaiting trials and sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee warned that under the Public Order Ordinance, offenders could face up to five years in prison for attending the vigil, or up to one year for promoting it.<\/p>\n<p>After the vigil was banned, Beijing&#8217;s political adviser on Hong Kong affairs Tian Feilong urged Hong Kong security services to investigate HK Alliance for breaching the infamous national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last year.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that the organisation&#8217;s mission statement, which calls for the end of one-party dictatorship, is in violation of the law, since the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s dictatorship is written into the Chinese constitution.<\/p>\n<p>On June 3, Executive Council member Ronny Tong warned that people wearing black clothing and chanting slogans such as \u201cend one-party dictatorship\u201d could be prosecuted for violating either that law or the law against unauthorised assembly.<\/p>\n<p>It would not matter if protesters appeared in different parts of the city, as long as their actions could be viewed as coordinated, Tong said.<\/p>\n<p>He did however state that individual commemorations of the anniversary were not forbidden.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Safe spaces targeted, shut down<br \/>\n<\/strong>As police mobilised across the city to prevent potential demonstrations, law enforcement units and pro-Beijing groups harassed the public in order to prevent them from attending other potential commemoration activities \u2013 even those being held in private venues.<\/p>\n<p>Seven Catholic churches which planned to hold evening mass on June 4 became a focal point for attacks:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">As churches offer a safe space for people to remember June 4th, banners are going up outside their premises: \u201cCult invasion of faith. Antichrist, fake messiahs. Chaos in the name of worship. Subversion of religion, blood on their hands. Churchgoers be aware of violating the NSL.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3HAGOZkJoi\">pic.twitter.com\/3HAGOZkJoi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 K Tse (@ktse852) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ktse852\/status\/1400294899426025477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On June 2, HK Alliance announced that its June 4 Museum had been shut down after officials from the Food and Environmental Hygiene department accused it of operating as a place of public entertainment without required licences.<\/p>\n<p>In spite of all the legal threats, individuals are finding their own ways to commemorate the anniversary in public.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hong Kong\u2019s June 4 Museum has closed temporarily over questions about its license. The space opened a decade ago. It is dedicated to commemorating victims of China&#8217;s 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LmeT2nI4tp\">pic.twitter.com\/LmeT2nI4tp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Radio Free Asia (@RadioFreeAsia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RadioFreeAsia\/status\/1400210195998035970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On June 3, a group of artists put on a public art performance at Causeway Bay:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/hk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#hk<\/a> &#8211; a group of artists carried out acts in memory of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/june4?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#june4<\/a> at Causeway Bay, the night before the banned vigil <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TuagG7t79t\">pic.twitter.com\/TuagG7t79t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lok. (@sumlokkei) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sumlokkei\/status\/1400419596599844864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A number of individuals went to Victoria Park to hold \u201cone person vigils\u201d:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TiananmenSquareMassacre?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TiananmenSquareMassacre<\/a> \uff1aA few people gather at Victoria park to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre on the eve of June 4.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/June4?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#June4<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HongKong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HongKong<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IuNBLGFeQ6\">pic.twitter.com\/IuNBLGFeQ6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ryan Lai (@ryan_lai1214) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ryan_lai1214\/status\/1400480555557289985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A large number of June 4 posters were seen in different districts across the city today.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_58742\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-58742\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58742\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Hong-Kong-posters-GV-680wide.png\" alt=\"June 4 posters in Hong Kong\" width=\"680\" height=\"486\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Hong-Kong-posters-GV-680wide.png 680w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Hong-Kong-posters-GV-680wide-300x214.png 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Hong-Kong-posters-GV-680wide-100x70.png 100w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Hong-Kong-posters-GV-680wide-588x420.png 588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-58742\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A large number of June 4 posters were seen in different districts across the city today. Image: Stand News\/Global Voices<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Many citizens wore clothes that conveyed political messages. They said on social media that they planned to light candles at 8 p.m, regardless of where they were in the city.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/globalvoices.org\/author\/oiwan\/\"><em>Oiwan Lam<\/em><\/a> <em>is Global Voices northeast Asia regional editor. She is also a media activist, researcher and educator currently based in Hong Kong. Her Chinese writings are in inmediahk.net and her twitter account is @oiwan. This article is republished from Global Voices under a Creative Commons licence.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/06\/05\/remembering-tiananmen-in-hong-kong-an-increasingly-risky-act-of-resistance\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oiwan Lam in Hong Kong Hong Kong police on June 4 deployed 7000 officers in Victoria Park and across the city to ensure that there was no organised commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in public spaces. At 7.40 am, four police officers arrested democracy activist Chow Hang-tung outside her office building to prevent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,432,5,365,651,19385,6,14,35,28157,28158],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192318,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192317\/revisions\/192318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}