Vincent Yu
The decision was made to take the step because the authorities had accused the museum, which opened ten years ago, of not having an operating license, the operators of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Democratic Movements in China announced on Wednesday.
The office for food and environmental hygiene started investigations after a corresponding complaint. Legal advice will be sought and closed until further notice in order to protect the safety of staff and visitors, according to the operators.
Several hundred people were killed on June 4, 1989 when the People’s Liberation Army was deployed against peaceful demonstrators around Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. The exact number is not known to this day. Thousands were injured and imprisoned.
Even over 30 years later, the topic is taboo in China. While public commemoration has always been forbidden in the People’s Republic, the police in Hong Kong banned the annual candle worship in the Chinese Special Administrative Region for the first time last year. The reason given was the ban on gatherings from the corona pandemic. Still, thousands of Hong Kong people came together with candles.
Also this year, the prayer planned for this Friday in Victoria Park was again prohibited with reference to the pandemic. But critics also suspected political motives behind the decision.
Hong Kong had seen mass protests for more democracy since 2019. As a result, a “security law” came into force last summer. The authorities are taking massive action against the democracy movement. Hundreds of activists were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms. Numerous members of the opposition have left Hong Kong.