(3 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 3 June 2024
1. Artist Sanmu Chen standing in front of police and media, apparently using his finger to draw Chinese characters in the air
2. Police taking away Chen
3. Various of dozens of police officers surrounding Chen
4. Police van with Chen inside
5. Police van with Chen inside driving away
STORYLINE:
Hong Kong police briefly detained a performance artist on the eve of the 35th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, underlining the city’s shrinking freedom of expression.
Police on Monday took away Sanmu Chen on a street of Causeway Bay, a busy Hong Kong shopping district, close to a park that for decades used to host an annual vigil to mourn the victims of the 1989 crackdown.
Before officers approached Chen, he mimed the action of drinking in front of a police van.
He appeared to use his finger to draw Chinese characters in the air for a few seconds.
After an investigation, Chan was released unconditionally, police said.
On the same day last year, Chen was also detained by police around the same area after chanting “Hong Kongers, do not be afraid. Don’t forget tomorrow is June 4.”
For decades, the vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park used to draw thousands of people each June 4 to remember the crackdown, during which government troops opened fire on student-led pro-democracy protesters, resulting in hundreds, if not thousands, dead.
But the vigil has vanished under the shadow of a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
Critics say its disappearance has illustrated that the freedoms promised to be kept intact in Hong Kong for 50 years when the former British colony returned the Chinese rule in 1997 have been drastically eroded.
Like last year, Victoria Park on Tuesday will host a carnival by pro-Beijing groups.
Beijing and Hong Kong governments have insisted that the law helped bring back stability to the city following huge anti-government protests in 2019.
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