The Hong Kong authorities are not loosening the grip on the association organizing the annual vigil in memory of the Tiananmen repression. On Thursday, September 9, the police raided the June 4 Museum, dedicated to the memory of the massacre. National security law enforcement officials searched the building, which had been forced by authorities to close in June.
In the afternoon, police took out various items that were on display in the museum, including its logo, a paper model of the Goddess of democracy – symbol of the 1989 student movement in Beijing -, as well as photos of the annual vigils organized by theHong Kong Alliance for the Support of the Democratic Patriotic Movements of China. Thirty-six boxes were loaded onto a truck.
The association is in the crosshairs of the authorities responsible for enforcing the national security law in Hong Kong, imposed last year by Beijing to eliminate all opposition after the huge demonstrations in 2019 in favor of democracy.
This search comes the day after the arrest and detention of Chow Hang-tung, lawyer and vice-president of the Alliance, and three of its members for failing to provide information related to the security law. national. Police last month ordered the association to hand over financial and operational information, accusing it of being a “Foreign agent”.
Details on all members of the association
The association chose to ignore this request which included personal details of all its members since its founding, all meeting minutes and financial reports, as well as all exchanges with NGOs defending democracy and rights. humans in China.
On Tuesday, the deadline for responding to these requests, Alliance members delivered a letter explaining that the request was illegal and arbitrary and that no evidence of a breach had been presented.
As police raided the museum on Thursday, twelve pro-democracy activists appeared in another case. Among them, Alliance vice-president Albert Ho, who pleaded guilty to participating in an unauthorized rally during the vigil on June 4, 2020, the first banned by the authorities since 1990.
He rejected the accusation that the association’s members are foreign agents, arguing that the Alliance is made up of Hong Kong democratic associations supporting pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.