Detained Hong Kong activist Chow Hang-tung to launch 36-hour hunger strike on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary
Hong Kong barrister-activist Chow Hang-tung has announced that she will launch a 36-hour hunger strike in prison on Wednesday to mark the 36th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.
The 39-year-old activist, who has been detained since September 2021 pending trial under the national security law, said in a Patreon post on Sunday that she would commemorate June 4 and 'reaffirm our commitment' by fasting for 36 hours.
This is the third year that Chow has planned a hunger strike behind bars to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown. She began a 34-hour hunger strike on June 4, 2023, and vowed to extend her fast by one hour each year.
'I believe we all will have our own ways to remember the day,' read the post shared by Chow's Patreon account, which is managed by the activist's family and friends.
Chow is the former vice chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised Hong Kong's annual Tiananmen vigils.
She is facing trial for incitement to subversion alongside the group and its two former leaders, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho.
According to the Judiciary's website, Chow, Lee, and Ho are set to appear in court on August 4 for a second pre-trial review. Chow is also expected to make an application for quashing her indictment on November 3, a week before the 75-day trial is scheduled to begin on November 11.
For three decades, the alliance organised an annual candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown, which occurred on June 4, 1989. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People's Liberation Army quashed a student-led pro-democracy movement in Beijing.
The vigil in Victoria Park has been banned since Beijing imposed a security law on the city in June 2020. The Alliance voted a year later to disband after its former leaders were prosecuted.
In the Patreon post, Chow also reflected on winning an appeal at the city's top court in March, which quashed her conviction and those of two other former Alliance members for failing to comply with a national security police data request.
The three were jailed for four and a half months each in August 2023 and had completed their term before winning the final appeal.
The case was a 'manifestation of justice and the rule of law' for those implicated, she said.
However, there is still a need to reflect on 'how such injustice has occurred,' she added.
Chow accused the Department of Justice and the court of concurring with 'false accusations' made by the national security police that the Alliance had been a foreign agent. She said the 'actual crime' in the case was the 'smearing and prosecution of citizens.'
'Indeed, the criticism for this so-called technical victory should have focused on the lenient treatments of these evildoers,' she wrote.
Chow added she had demanded that Secretary for Security Chris Tang apologise after the top court's ruling, but she was 'not certain' about how long it would take for the apology to come.
'History tells us that it will likely take a very long time – The Tiananmen Mothers have been waiting for 36 years and still have not received an apology. However, they have not given up on holding the government accountable,' she wrote.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong's mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
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