Hong Kong activists and supporters gathered outside the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London on 31 August for a rally marking both the 81st anniversary of the city’s liberation from Japanese occupation and the seventh anniversary of the 2019 “831” police crackdown.
Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor joined other groups in the rally under the theme “Liberation Remembered, Freedom Lives On”, the rally came days after two prominent pro-democracy figures, veteran trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan and barrister Chow Hang-tung, were convicted under Hong Kong’s national security law in connection with their roles in the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, which for three decades organised annual Tiananmen vigils.
Participants responded with a clear message: release the political prisoners.
Christopher Mung, the Executive Director of Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor, drew a connection between the Tiananmen crackdown of 4 June 1989, the violence at Prince Edward station on 31 August 2019, and the political repression that continues in Hong Kong today.
“These are all products of the same authoritarian regime,” he said, referring to an authoritarian government that, he argued, has repeatedly sought to suppress people demanding freedom, democracy and justice.
Mung condemned the court’s decision to treat the Hong Kong Alliance’s defence of historical memory and calls for democratic change as “subversion”. He urged Hong Kong people not to forget those who have lost their freedom for speaking out or taking part in the city’s democratic movement.
“We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, whether they are inside or outside prison,” he said.
Chaohua Wang, a former student leader in the 1989 democracy movement and a representative of the Tiananmen commemoration group Spark, also condemned the convictions of Lee and Chow, describing the ruling as illegitimate. She led the crowd in English in chanting the Hong Kong Alliance’s five principles, including calls to release democracy activists, vindicate the 1989 democracy movement, seek accountability for the Tiananmen massacre and end one-party rule in China.
Other speakers called on the British public and politicians to continue speaking out against human rights abuses in Hong Kong and China. Nick, a representative of a Tibetan advocacy group, and Jason Chao of the Hong Konger in Britain urged people to put pressure on the UK government and MPs and to demand the release of political prisoners, including Chow Hang-tung, Joshua Wong and veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung.
The rally ended with a minute’s silence for those who died defending Hong Kong during the second world war, and for all those who have sacrificed their freedom – and, in some cases, their lives – in the struggle for democracy and freedom.
History must not be erased. Political prisoners must not be forgotten.
Release the political prisoners. Freedom is not dead.