Team News Riveting
The Hong Kong (HK) Authorities detained a coordinator of the city’s yearly candlelight vigil memorializing the harmful Tiananmen Square suppression.
They also advised individuals not to go to the prohibited occasion Friday as the city silences its pro-democracy voices.
According to local media, two people, including activist Chow Hang Tung, were detained on Friday morning for allegedly promoting a public meeting that was prohibited by Hong Kong police.
June 4 marks the 32nd anniversary of a deadly crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square by China’s military, and Hong Kong authorities have banned the annual vigil commemorating the protests for a second year, citing public health grounds amid the pandemic. Police have planned to deploy thousands of officers to enforce the ban.
Chow Hang-tung, Vice Chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was taken away by officers near her law firm in Central at 7:40 a.m. on Friday, Apple Daily reported quoting sources.
Police confirmed later on Friday that they had arrested a female lawyer surnamed Chow, 36, and a man, 20, said to be a food delivery worker, in Central and Sha Tin respectively.
The two allegedly violated Public Order Ordinance 17A(1b) by advertising or publicizing information about an unauthorized event on social media, police said. The offense warrants a fine of HK$10,000 and a 12-month jail term.
They were being held at a police station for investigation, Terry Law, senior superintendent of the force’s New Territories South Regional Headquarters, said in a media briefing.
He said that the duo’s appeals on social media were extremely irresponsible, as people who joined the prohibited event upon their request would be in breach of the Public Order Ordinance.
The authorities however declined to elaborate on exactly what or when the two had posted on social media. No details could be disclosed as the case was under investigation, they said.
Chow, a barrister by profession, in an earlier media interview, had said that she would go to Victoria Park on the evening of June 4 in a personal capacity to commemorate victims of the 1989 Beijing Tiananmen Square massacre, in order to “keep this 32-year promise.”
