Hong Kong Tiananmen Activists Sentenced Under National Security Law

A Hong Kong court has handed down prison sentences to several pro-democracy activists who organized the city's annual June Fourth candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Charges and Sentences

The defendants, members of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were convicted of inciting subversion and failing to comply with orders to hand over information under the national security law.

End of a Tradition

The vigils, once drawing tens of thousands of participants to Victoria Park, were banned in 2020 under the guise of COVID restrictions and have not been permitted since. The prosecutions effectively end any public commemoration of Tiananmen in Hong Kong.

International Condemnation

Human rights groups and Western governments condemned the sentences, calling them part of a systematic effort to erase the memory of June Fourth from Hong Kong's public life.