Hong Kong National Security Police raided the Tiananmen Square ‘Victims’ Memorial Museum in Beijing on June 4, 1989. The operation came hours after four pro-democracy activists were found guilty and arrested for attending an unauthorized assembly on the anniversary of June 4 last year.
The agents searched the museum, now closed, after isolating the entire building. In the afternoon, according to local media reports, the museum logo, a paper model of the Goddess of Democracy (symbol of the 1989 pro-democracy student movement), photos of the annual vigils and at least 36 boxes of material were taken away. of various types.
The police decided to break into the museum to seek more information about the four activists arrested yesterday. All are part of the Hong Kong Alliance, the group which, in addition to curating the museum, organizes large candlelit vigils in Victoria Park every June 4, the day of the bloody repression of Tiananmen Square. The last two vigils, however, have been banned due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yesterday, however, Hong Kong police arrested the four Allenaza leaders accused of refusing to hand over documents requested by the authorities in the name of the new security law imposed by Beijing in the former British colony. The arrests began a few hours after the deadline set by the authorities for the delivery of a series of information relating to the group’s finances, after the accusation of “connivance with foreign powers” against the organization.
The Alliance is one of several pro-democracy groups that have come under investigation under the national security law in force since June 30, 2020 with the aim of cracking down on dissent following the 2019 anti-government protests, often leading to violence.
At the moment there are twelve activists who have pleaded guilty to the accusations of inciting and participating in an unauthorized demonstration during the vigil on 4 June 2020. Among them also Albert Ho, the vice president of the Hong Kong Alliance.