Organizer of HK Tiananmen Square massacre vigil arrested

HONG KONG: Chow Hang Tung, vice-chairwoman of the group responsible for organising a banned candlelit vigil in Hong Kong last year to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, was arrested on Friday.

Richard Tsoi, secretary of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (HKA) told dpa news agency that Chow was arrested at 8 a.m. at Central Police Station.

The police announced a ban on Tiananmen commemorations last week, which they said was because of the pandemic.

They said that anyone breaking the ban could face five years in prison, and one additional year for publicizing an event. Tsoi said that police claimed Chow had breached the public order ordinance.

On Thursday, the force said they would deploy 7,000 officers around the city, with 3,000 of them tasked with guarding the city park where commemorative events have previously been held legally for decades. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Friday criticised the Hong Kong police's use of the coronavirus pandemic to ban gatherings to commemorate the victims of the June 4 crackdown in 1989.

"The common enemy of humans is the virus, not democracy," the DPP said in a statement, adding that the Chinese Communist Party's distrust of democracy and hatred of people taking action was more worrying than the virus. (IANS)

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