65-year-old activist arrested in Hong Kong for commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown

Hong Kong police detained “Grandma Wong”, a 65-year-old woman known for her pro-democracy activism, when she was alone commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown, a new show of “zero tolerance” for protests in the former British colony.

Alexandra Wong was detained on Sunday for “participating in an illegal assembly” as she was walking to the Liaison Office, a representative body of Beijing in Hong Kong.. 'Grandma Wong' had decided to commemorate the repression, carrying a banner in memory of Tiananmen as well as a yellow umbrella, one of the symbols of the protests in favor of the region's autonomy..

According to the South China Morning Post newspaper, the woman began chanting slogans in a park before heading to the Liaison Office, all by herself, all while being closely followed by police.. She was questioned by the agents up to two times. “I'm alone and I'm just an old woman. Why don't they let me in?” she asked the police, according to this newspaper, before finally being arrested for participating in an “unauthorized gathering and for having incited other people to do the same.”.

Wong was very active in Hong Kong in 2019 during the popular mobilization that shook the financial center, to the point of being nicknamed “Grandma Wong”.. She was often seen waving a British flag, a way of challenging Chinese guardianship of the city, returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.. Requests to organize demonstrations are almost systematically rejected, under the pretext of the pandemic or alleging security reasons. The police refused to give permission to celebrate the traditional vigil that was to take place next Friday in a city park to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the repression of the social and student movement in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.. The reason given had been distancing restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

Alsewhere, Hong Kong prosecutors confirmed Monday that they could seek sentences of up to life in prison against several pro-democracy figures being prosecuted for “subversion” after organizing primaries last year. In all, 47 opponents are on trial, accused of organizing unofficial primaries to select opposition candidates for September’s legislative elections, which the government eventually postponed on the pretext of the pandemic.

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