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Group behind Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong to hold discussion on future ‘in days’

  • Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China is the latest organisation in city to consider disbanding
  • Group has been under increasing pressure since imposition of national security law

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The annual June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park has been banned for two years in a row on public health grounds amid the pandemic. Photo: Robert Ng
The group behind Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown will discuss “in days” whether to disband.
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The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China is the latest opposition organisation to consider folding, after two other civic groups being investigated under the national security law did so.

The alliance – the only group in the country openly calling for an end to “one-party dictatorship” – has come under increasing political pressure since Beijing imposed the sweeping legislation on the city on June 30 last year.

Simon Leung Kam-wai, an alliance representative, told the Post on Saturday that the group would hold a meeting among remaining core members to discuss whether to disband, as one of the possible responses to “the dire political environment”.

“The pressure is partly from the recent wave of closure of newspaper Apple Daily, the Civil Human Rights Front and the Professional Teachers’ Union (PTU),” Leung, who is also chairman of the Kwai Tsing District Council, said. “We have been evaluating the risks from time to time.”

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Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China representative Simon Leung. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China representative Simon Leung. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
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