Tiananmen vigil organiser in Hong Kong awaits final vote to disband
A group called The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised an annual Tiananmen vigil in the city, has reportedly decided to disband.
The group’s standing committee held a special meeting yesterday and decided to disband the embattled organisation amid political pressure, reported South China Morning Post.
The disbandment will go ahead if it gets approval in the general meeting.
Since 1990, the group had organised the annual candlelight vigil in Hong Kong, marking the Tiananmen Square crackdown against dissent in 1989.
But the city’s authorities banned the event in the past two years, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
In June, Chow Hang Tung, vice-chairwoman of the group who organised the vigil this year, was charged for inciting others to participate in an unlawful assembly.
Some pro-Beijing politicians also viewed the group’s call for “an end to one-party dictatorship” in mainland China as an act of subversion under the national security law.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China would be the latest opposition group to dissolve under Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on democracy in the city.
Last month, Hong Kong’s Professional Teachers’ Union was disbanded after being criticised by Chinese state media and derecognised by Hong Kong authorities.
More than a week later, the Civil Human Rights Front, the pro-democracy group that organises some of Hong Kong’s biggest protests, was disbanded amid threats of police probe.