Writing on his Facebook page, Wong confirmed he had been informed by police that he would be charged with “knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly”.

He noted it came a day after he went to court on Wednesday and denied ­inciting protesters to besiege ­police headquarters during an unauthorised rally amid last year’s social unrest.

“I am now facing another charge by the government. Clearly, the regime plans to stage another crackdown on the city’s activists by all means,” he wrote.

“More worryingly, due to the lengthy legal process, I will probably be further barred from leaving Hong Kong to tell our truth to the world, even after my current case over the police headquarters siege ends. As our voices might not be heard soon, we hope the world can continue speaking up for the city’s liberty and human rights.”

Other activists charged on Thursday include Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai, fellow Democrat Leung Kwok-wah and former opposition lawmakers “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and Cyd Ho Sau-lan.

China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), is expected to put forward a legal directive on outstanding constitutional issues from the polls delay after a meeting from August 8 to 11.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Hong Kong Law Society president Melissa Pang said the city’s government must first try to solve the matter under the local legal framework.

“If it is inevitable for the NPCSC to exercise its power … it must do so with restraint,” she added.

“We hope that the NPCSC will make [its decision-making process] more transparent, to maintain the confidence of the public and that of the international community in ‘one country, two systems’ and Hong Kong’s rule of law.”

A police spokesman said officers of the Hong Kong Island regional public order event investigation team had asked the court to serve summonses to 19 men and five women, aged 23 to 69, suspected of knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly.

Lee Cheuk-yan, of vigil organiser the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, faced an additional charge of holding an unauthorised assembly.

“The group will appear at West Kowloon Court on September 15,” the spokesman said.

Police had banned the annual candlelight gathering in Victoria Park for the first time in three decades, citing public health concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic, a move decried by both the United States and the European Union.

Tiananmen vigil as it happened: thousands defy ban to mark June 4 crackdown

On June 11, media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and three organisers of the June 4 vigil – Lee, Albert Ho Chun-yan and Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong – were informed by police they would be prosecuted on incitement charges.

The next day, nine more politicians and activists were told that they would be prosecuted on the same grounds.

The nine are standing committee members of the alliance: Andrew Wan Siu-kin, Cheung Man-kwong, Leung Yiu-chung, Mak Hoi-wah, Chiu Yan-loy, Chow Hang-tung and Leung Kam-wai, as well as the Labour Party’s Kwong Wing-kin and Civil Human Rights Front vice-convenor Figo Chan Ho-wun.

Lai was the only person not charged again on Thursday.