At 7.40 am Friday, on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, activist Chow Hang-tung was arrested in Hong Kong. The barrister serves as vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance, which organises an annual vigil each 4 June.

This year, the vigil was cancelled with Hong Kong officials threatening steep sentences for anyone defying the order. Chow’s detention, reported AFP, was for promoting an unlawful assembly. The law has been used widely against pro-democracy activists in recent years.

Chow spoke with Mekong Review on Sunday, for our weekly newsletter. Below is the interview in full, edited for clarity and length.

 

Hong Kong Alliance announced yesterday it would not be hosting or promoting the vigil at Victoria Park this Friday. Are there things people can do in memorial instead?

We are asking everyone as an individual to do whatever they can. The common action that we call for is to light a candle at 8pm on 4 June. The government banned people coming out to Victoria Park, but it doesn’t ban them lighting a candle wherever they can in Hong Kong or around the world.

Given how tense things are at the moment and how strong the government ban is, is there any concern that even that action may be considered too much? 

To be honest, there is a climate of fear in Hong Kong now. There is a government news alert now saying June Fourth [vigil] is against the National Security Law. I’m not sure people feel safe. I think people will have some fear but I hope they will still come out.

Hong Kong has always had the biggest remembrance of Tiananmen, whereas in China even a mention of 4 June is forbidden. Do you see this type of erasure happening in Hong Kong in the future?

Whether we can or can’t depends on whether we still come out. If everyone disappears it will become just like China where nobody talks about June Fourth. I think people are still finding ways to continue, there are still many people who are out there. The people’s support won’t disappear overnight even if the National Security Law appears overnight.

Is there any lesson to be learned from 4 June? 

The lesson is that the fight for democracy can be really long term and you just have to expect pressure, you have to expect imprisonment. You have to expect all that and still persist. There are a lot of fighters in China who took part in 1989 and continue their activism … that should give us courage as well. It’s a long-term march.

 

With Chow’s arrest, the Hong Kong authorities appear to be taking a leaf out of Beijing’s playbook, rounding up activists to prevent them from commemorating the anniversary, and deterring others from doing so as well. Hong Kong police have announced the deployment of some 7,000 riot police to patrol the streets tonight, in a show of force that will prevent even the smallest gesture of remembrance. The aim seems to be to create in Hong Kong the same culture of silence around this day that exists in the rest of China. Yet, however reassured Beijing may be by an absence of candles in Victoria Park tonight, they may nevertheless find that the spirit of the Hong Kong people—and their determination to keep the flame of memory alive—may not be so easily extinguished.

• Tags: Abby Seiff, Chow Hang-tung, Free to read, Hong Kong, Notebook