Hong Kong Convicts Tiananmen Vigil Organisers Under Security Law
A Hong Kong court convicted two veteran activists, Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, of inciting subversion under the national security law, over their organising of the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil. The pair, who denied the charges, face up to 10 years in prison, with sentencing to follow. The once-vast candlelight vigil, held for decades to mourn the 1989 crackdown, has been effectively banned since 2020.
The verdict draws a line under one of the last public rituals of dissent in Hong Kong, criminalising the very act of remembering an event Beijing has worked for decades to erase. The national security law, imposed after the 2019 protests, has hollowed out the civil society that once made the city distinct, jailing organisers, shuttering newspapers and dissolving unions and parties. That mourning the dead of Tiananmen can now bring a decade in prison shows how completely the space for opposition has closed. Rights groups say the case exposes Beijing’s fear of its own history. Watch the sentences handed down and whether any international response follows.