Hong Kong activist keeps quiet Tiananmen vigils as two old allies are convicted
HONG KONG — For years, Tang Ngok-kwan could count on Victoria Park to hold the memory. On the night of June 4, tens of thousands would gather with candles, turning Hong Kong into the only place in China where the 1989 Beijing crackdown was publicly mourned. Those gatherings are gone. The group behind them has disbanded. And on Friday, two of his closest allies were convicted of subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law.
Tang, 58, still finds his own ways to remember. On the eve of the anniversary this year, he went to Victoria Park alone, bowed and read victims’ names in a low voice. He sometimes returns to university campuses where memorial statues once stood, though nearly every trace of them has been removed.
The convictions marked a decisive step in the dismantling of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, once the city’s most prominent pro-democracy group. Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, the alliance’s chair and vice-chair, were found guilty of inciting others to overthrow the leadership of China’s Communist Party through unlawful means. The organization itself was also convicted. They face up to 10 years in prison, with sentencing still to be announced.
Tang, who served as a core organizer, said the verdict did not convince him. “I feel wronged on behalf of those convicted,” he told The Associated Press. “After the alliance was convicted, I feel that whenever people bring up the alliance, there’ll be a sense of wariness around it.”
Legal observers and human rights advocates see the case as another measure of how far Hong Kong has moved from the open, protest-tolerant city it was before Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020. The law was introduced after months of massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 and has since been used to prosecute dozens of activists, elected officials and journalists. Critics say it has effectively criminalized political dissent. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities argue the law is necessary to safeguard stability and national security.
Tang’s personal history with the movement goes back decades. In May 1989, he joined the crowds of Hong Kong people marching in solidarity with student demonstrators in Beijing. When troops moved into Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3–4, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of civilians, Tang could not sleep. He later helped the alliance assist people wanted by mainland authorities and worked behind the scenes for years as the organization ran the annual candlelight vigil that drew tens of thousands of people for more than three decades.
The vigil was banned in 2020 over pandemic-related public health concerns. Weeks later, Beijing imposed the security law. The following year, authorities demanded that the alliance provide details about its operations and finances, suggesting links to overseas pro-democracy groups and accusing it of acting as a foreign agent. The group refused, calling the request an “abuse of power.”
Tang recalled that moment as a public ordeal. “It really feels like everyone is watching how you die and then coming to see you off on your way,” he said.
Days after that refusal, Tang was arrested with other core members. In 2023, he and two others were sentenced to 4½ months in prison for failing to provide information. His term overlapped with the 35th anniversary of the crackdown, which he marked by running 35 laps barefoot in prison. Hong Kong’s top court quashed those convictions in 2025, but only after the sentences had already been served.
By then, the alliance had voted to disband and commemorative statues had been removed from university campuses. Public commemorations of June 4 had become nearly impossible. On the anniversary, police removed people who tried to gather near the former vigil site, and an annual carnival occupied Victoria Park.
A third alliance leader, Albert Ho, has pleaded guilty in the same case, a move that typically results in a reduced sentence.
Tang stayed close to the latest proceedings, attending Lee and Chow’s trial regularly. He said police would not let him enter the court on Friday if he carried bookmarks printed with the words “vindicate June 4,” which he described as sensitive materials.
To mark the time Lee and Chow spent in custody awaiting trial, Tang said he repeatedly walked the route between a subway station and the courthouse. He noticed that there are 64 steps leading up from the station exit — a number echoing the June 4 anniversary. Tang laughed about his attention to such details, calling it “pathological.”
“When there’s nothing concrete you can do,” he said, “the only option, to put it bluntly, is just another kind of way to balance your psychology.”