Recently CNN News on-line reported the following:
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| (Source: CNN) |
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil fell dark years ago. Now its organizers have been convicted (1/2)
CNN - By Chris Lau
UPDATED AUG 21, 2026
Hong Kong — Two key organizers behind what used to be the
only large-scale public commemoration for the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre on
Chinese soil have been found guilty of inciting subversion by a court in Hong
Kong.
The verdict is the latest chapter in a years-long crackdown
by Hong Kong authorities against publicly marking the moment in 1989 when the
ruling Chinese Communist Party sent tanks in to violently quell peaceful,
student-led democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Chow Hang-tung, a prominent young human rights lawyer who conducted her own defense, and former opposition lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan were found guilty of inciting subversion at West Kowloon Court on Friday. They face a jail term of up to 10 years under a national security law imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020.
A third activist, veteran pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho, had previously pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later.
Hong Kong’s position as a once-outspoken corner of China has been upended in recent years by a national security crackdown following huge and often violent democracy protests that convulsed the city in 2019.
The erasure of the city’s annual candle-light Tiananmen vigil, which used to draw huge crowds calling for full democracy for Hong Kong and an end to one-party rule in China, is one of the most visible examples of that transformation.
Beijing and the Hong Kong government say the national security laws were needed to return the city to order and stability.
Critics, human rights groups and multiple Western nations – including the United States – say the crackdown has quashed dissent and ended Hong Kong’s unique freedoms.
“The HKSAR Government strongly condemns any biased remarks and smears against the HKSAR’s effort for safeguarding national security,” its spokesperson said in response to CNN’s inquiry ahead of the verdict, using Hong Kong’s official title, adding rights and freedoms are protected under the national security law.
Those convicted on Friday were key leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group responsible for organizing the annual remembrance until 2019.
It came just days after Chinese leader Xi Jinping praised the decision to clamp down on the Tiananmen protests, in a speech that made a rare mention of the tumultuous period.
Chinese troops cracked down on pro-democracy protesters around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. No official death toll has ever been released, but estimates range from several hundred to thousands, with many more injured. The subject remains widely censored inside China.
Following the events of 1989, mourners would converge on the
same day every year in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, to attend a vigil
that filled multiple soccer pitches in the neighborhood’s Victoria Park with
candlelight.
It was a tradition that continued after Hong Kong’s 1997 handover by Britain to China, alongside frequent street protests and a political system that allowed pro-democracy lawmakers to stand.
That tradition came to an end with the imposition of a series of new national security offenses following the 2019 protests.
(to be continued)
Translation
香港天安門紀念活動多年前黯然落幕。如今，其組織者被判有罪（1/2）
香港－兩名曾組織大規模公眾紀念1989年天安門事件（中國境內唯一此類活動）的關鍵人物，被香港法院判處煽動顛覆國家政權罪名成立。
這項判決是香港當局多年來鎮壓民眾紀念1989年天安門事件的最新進展。當時，執政的中國共產黨派遣坦克鎮壓了北京天安門廣場上由學生領導的和平民主抗議活動。
為自己辯護的著名年輕人權律師鄒幸彤和前反對派立法會議員李卓人於週五在西九龍法院被判煽動顛覆國家政權罪名成立。根據北京於2020年在香港實施的國安法，他們面臨最高10年的監禁。
第三名活動人士，資深民主派立法會議員何俊仁先前已認罪，稍後將判刑。
近年來，香港作為中國曾經是可暢所欲言的角落的地位發生了翻天覆地的變化。 2019 年，大規模且往往伴隨暴力衝突的民主抗議活動席捲全城，隨後政府採取了國家安全鎮壓措施。
香港一年一度的「天安門燭光晚會」的消失，是這種轉變最顯著的例證之一。該活動曾吸引大批民眾參與，呼籲香港實現全面民主，並結束中國的一黨專政。
北京和香港特區政府表示，國安法是恢復香港秩序和穩定的必要手段。
批評者、人權組織以及包括美國在內的多個西方國家則認為，鎮壓扼殺了異議，終結了香港獨特的自由。
香港特區政府發言人在宣判前回應CNN的詢問時表示：「香港特區政府強烈譴責任何針對香港維護國家安全努力的偏頗言論和抹黑」。發言人使用香港的官方名稱，並補充說，香港的各項權利和自由均受國家安全法保護。
週五被判有罪的人士是香港愛國民主運動支援聯盟（HKSAMC）的主要領導人，該組織負責組織每年一度的紀念活動，直至2019年。
就在判罪幾天前，中國國家主席習近平在一次演講中罕見地提及了天安門事件，並讚揚了鎮壓天安門抗議活動的決定。
1989年6月4日，中國軍隊在北京天安門廣場鎮壓了支持民主的抗議者。官方從未公佈死亡人數，但估計死亡人數從數百人到數千人不等，另有更多人受傷。在中國，這項議題至今仍受到嚴格審查。
1989年事件發生後，每年同一天，哀悼者都會聚集在香港銅鑼灣，參加燭光守夜活動。維多利亞公園的多個足球場都擺滿了燭光。
1997年香港回歸中國後，這項傳統得以延續，同時，香港也經常爆發街頭抗議，當時的政治體制允許民主派議員參選。
然而，隨著2019年抗議活動後一系列新的國家安全罪名的出台，這項傳統也隨之終結。
（待續）
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