- Officers ramp up presence at sensitive locations; artist Sanmu Chen taken away on Monday in Causeway Bay after he started making hand gestures
- Government advisers say residents can mark the day in private without breaching Article 23 national security law
Police stand by on the streets in Causeway Bay, near Victoria Park where people traditionally gathered annually on June 4 to mourn the victims of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Photo: Sam TsangHundreds of Hong Kong police officers are on the lookout today for activities commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The SCMP has learned that these include any attempts by individuals that could incite social unrest.
Police had already ramped up their presence at sensitive locations on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the crackdown. Officers took away artist Sanmu Chen, seconds after he started making hand gestures on East Point Road in Causeway Bay on Monday.
Sources said the force would also monitor social media posts calling for gatherings, and step up patrols at certain areas. These include the government headquarters in Admiralty, the central government’s liaison office in Sai Ying Pun and Victoria Park, where vigils to mark the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown in Beijing had previously been held.
“We are most worried about gatherings, or people using this occasion to drum up [tensions],” one source said, adding the force was also concerned about radical individuals launching “lone-wolf” attacks.
Asked if solo activities such as walking alone with a candle would be discouraged, the source said officers would evaluate the public impact of those actions.
“It depends on the actual situation – whether that person appears at a certain location or time, or what they intend to do. Would their presence trigger others?” the source said, explaining that while the individual action might “seem fine”, it could become problematic if others around were influenced or affected.
Chen, the artist, was also taken away by police in the same district and on the same day last year, after he was heard chanting, “Do not forget June 4! Don’t be afraid of them, Hongkongers!”
The force’s counterterrorism response unit, police tactical unit and an anti-riot “Sabre-toothed Tiger” vehicle were deployed along with uniformed patrol officers, as well as plain-clothes police.
Meanwhile, members of the Executive Council had earlier said that Hongkongers could mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in private.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the government’s key decision-making Executive Council, had said she did not see a problem if individuals commemorated events away from the public eye.
“If a person commemorates any dates in private, without the intention of stirring up hatred against the country or institutions established in Hong Kong, I don’t think the person commits an offence.”
Police made their first arrests on May 29 under the new Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in connection with posts on a Facebook page in the run-up to the 35th anniversary of the crackdown. It is alleged the posts were made with the aim of inciting hatred of the city and central governments.
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Chow Hang-tung, a former vice-chairwoman of the now-disbanded alliance behind Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square vigil, was among those arrested. She is remanded in custody at Tai Lam Centre for Women in connection with another alleged offence.
Barrister and Exco member Ronny Tong Ka-wah said he could not comment on individual cases. But he emphasised the threshold for a sedition charge was high and that law-abiding people had no need to worry.
Tong said he did not believe a private act of mourning carried any intention to incite hatred and commemoration of June 4 at home was an acceptable way to do that.
“If you engage in such behaviour in public and advocate for others to do the same, it can be seen as having an intent to incite,” Tong said. “But if you do it at home as a personal act, without influencing others to follow you, then it should be considered acceptable.
“I personally will commemorate as well. But as public figures, it is important to be cautious about our words and actions. I will not disclose what I have done.”
Students in Beijing led demonstrations against the central authorities and occupied Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989 and demanded greater freedoms and for the government to rid itself of corruption. The army moved in the early hours of June 4 to clear the protesters and an unconfirmed number of unarmed civilians were killed.
Hongkongers gathered on June 4 every year for a candlelight vigil to mourn those killed in the decades after. The event at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay regularly attracted crowds in the tens of thousands. But authorities refused to grant permission for the event in 2020 and 2021 on the grounds of health risks amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and the alliance disbanded in 2021. No other group has organised a vigil since.