Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil group disbands amid crackdown on dissent

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Prominent pro-democracy group Hong Kong Alliance voted to disband after many of its leaders were arrested

The Hong Kong pro-democracy group that organised three decades of vigils commemorating the victims of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square massacre has voted to disband in the face of China’s sweeping clampdown on dissent.

The Hong Kong Alliance was one of the most prominent symbols of the city’s former political plurality, and its dissolution on Saturday is the latest illustration of how quickly China is remoulding the business hub in its own authoritarian image.

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UK warns Hong Kong security law critics of extradition risk posed by China

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Activist Bill Browder warns of global reach of controversial law after being contacted by Foreign Office

Britain has warned some Hong Kong critics in the UK about travelling abroad, according to high-profile human rights advocate Bill Browder, highlighting concerns about the cross-border reach of the Chinese region’s national security law.

Browder, a well-known lobbyist for the use of sanctions against foreign governments involved in human rights abuses, said he was contacted by the UK Foreign Office earlier this month after he was named in a Hong Kong court during a foreign collusion case.

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Covid live news: France suspends unvaccinated health workers; Israel boosters ‘curb serious illness’

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Thousands of unvaccinated French health workers suspended without pay; Israel experts say data suggests boosters stem rise in serious cases

Thousands of health workers in France who did not get vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of a deadline this week have been suspended without pay, the health minister has said.

“Some 3,000 suspensions were notified yesterday to employees at health centres and clinics who have not yet been vaccinated,” Olivier Veran told RTL radio. “Several dozens” had turned in their resignations rather than take vaccines, he added.

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Hong Kong: Tiananmen vigil organisers charged with inciting subversion

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Hong Kong Alliance leaders face charges under national security law Beijing imposed last year

Hong Kong police have charged the group that organises the city’s annual Tiananmen candlelight vigil and three of its leaders with subversion under the national security law, amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said that the group, its chairman, Lee Cheuk-yan, as well as vice-chairs Albert Ho and Chow Hang-tung were charged late on Thursday with “inciting subversion of state power”, under the national security law Beijing imposed more than a year ago.

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Hong Kong: police arrest senior members of group that organised Tiananmen vigils

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Chow Hang-tung, a barrister and organiser of the Hong Kong Alliance, wrote on Twitter ‘Any farewell words for me?’ before she was detained

Hong Kong police have arrested senior members of the group that organised the city’s annual Tiananmen Square massacre vigil, after it was accused of foreign collusion.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said police arrived at the offices or residents of several members early on Wednesday morning. The arrests come amid increasing crackdown on political, professional and civil society groups, which the government has accused of unpatriotic conduct or national security offences.

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Newly discovered Napoleon hat with his DNA up for auction

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Buyer at small German auction house did not know bicorne had belonged to the French emperor

A newly discovered hat with DNA evidence proving it belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte has gone on display at auction house Bonhams in Hong Kong.

Described by Bonhams as the “first hat to bear the emperor’s DNA“, it is being previewed in Hong Kong before it moves to Paris and then London, where it will be auctioned on 27 October.

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European banks storing €20bn a year in tax havens

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Barclays and HSBC among banks booking money equivalent to 14% of annual profits in offshore entities

Leading European banks are booking around €20bn (£17bn) a year – equivalent to 14% of their total profits – in tax havens, with Barclays, HSBC and NatWest Group among those enjoying the lowest tax rates, according to a new report.

The figures emerge from an analysis, conducted by the EU Tax Observatory, of 36 big banks required to publicly report country-by-country data on their activities.

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Hong Kong police investigate organisers of Tiananmen Square vigil

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Longstanding group accused of being ‘agent of foreign forces’ and is asked for information about its membership

Hong Kong’s national security police are investigating the organisers of a vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre for alleged foreign collusion offences.

Chow Hang-tung, the vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said authorities had written to core members of the longstanding group demanding information related to their foreign links within 14 days.

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Hong Kong to scour old films for subversive themes under new censorship law

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Movies deemed a security threat can bring penalties of up to three years’ jail under stricter law that also covers previously approved titles

Hong Kong will scrutinise past films for national security breaches under a tough new censorship law in the latest blow to the city’s political and artistic freedoms.

Authorities announced in June that the financial hub’s censorship board would check any future films for content that breached the security law. But on Tuesday they unveiled a new, hardened censorship law that would also cover any titles that had previously been given a green light.

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‘Law and order collapsed’: Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong on finding freedom in Taiwan

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A familiar face at pro-democracy rallies in the city, Wong felt forced to flee after being named in a hit list of cultural undesirables

For much of the last year Kacey Wong was waking up in Hong Kong and checking social media to see if friends had been arrested overnight. On a good morning Wong might see a photo of an oval plane window looking out over clouds or a foreign airport, a pictorial sign they had fled to safety.

On one of the worst mornings it was the arrest of 53 campaigners, politicians and activists, many of them Wong’s friends, for having the gall to hold a pre-election poll.

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Hong Kong reportedly lets Nicole Kidman skip Covid quarantine

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Actor said to be given exemption to film Amazon TV series, as territory braces for tougher travel rules

As Hong Kong braces for more draconian Covid-19 travel restrictions from Friday, the Australian actor Nicole Kidman has received an exemption from the government to skip quarantine, media reported.

The exemption was given to allow her to film an Amazon television series called The Expats, the news website HK01 reported, a move that contrasts sharply with the mandatory hotel quarantine of up to three weeks that residents must undergo after entering the Chinese-ruled territory.

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Four Hong Kong students arrested for ‘advocating terrorism’

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Student union had expressed ‘deep sadness’ over death of a man who attacked a police officer

Four student leaders from Hong Kong’s top university have been arrested for “advocating terrorism”, police said.

Arrests were made in response to a controversial student union statement after a man attacked a police officer last month.

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Hong Kong group behind major pro-democracy protests disbands amid police pressure

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End of Civil Human Rights Front comes days after police suggested its past rallies may have violated national security law

A major civil society group that was behind some of Hong Kong’s biggest protests has disbanded under increasing pressure from police.

The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) announced its closure on Sunday, saying no members were willing to perform secretariat duties after its convenor, Figo Chan Ho-wun, was jailed for 18 months over a 2019 rally.

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Biden grants ‘safe haven’ to Hongkongers in US amid China crackdown

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President signs memo allowing people from Hong Kong currently residing in US to live and work in country for 18 months

Joe Biden has granted temporary refuge to people from Hong Kong amid the Chinese government’s effort to crush the pro-democracy movement and tighten its control on a city once known for its freedom.

Related: Hong Kong singer and activist arrested over ‘corrupt conduct’

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Covid restrictions and screens linked to myopia in children, study shows

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Hong Kong research suggests less time outdoors and more doing ‘near work’ accelerates short-sightedness

Spending more time indoors and on screens because of Covid restrictions may be linked to an increased rate of short-sightedness in children, researchers say.

The study, which looked at two groups of children aged six to eight in Hong Kong, is the latest to suggest that lockdowns and other restrictions may have taken a toll on eyesight: data from more than 120,000 children of a similar age in China, published earlier this year, suggested a threefold increase in the prevalence of shortsightedness, or myopia, in 2020.

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Hong Kong man arrested for allegedly booing Chinese anthem while watching Olympics

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Man allegedly also waved colonial-era flags while watching fencer Edgar Cheung’s medal ceremony at a mall

Hong Kong police have arrested a man on suspicion of insulting the national anthem, after he allegedly booed the Chinese national anthem while watching an Olympic event at a mall.

The 40-year-old man was detained on Friday after allegedly waving colonial-era Hong Kong flags and booing, while urging others to join him in insulting the song, according to a police statement posted on Facebook.

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Hong Kong security law: verdict expected in first ever trial

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Tong Ying-kit case seen as a departure from Hong Kong’s common law traditions, with accused denied bail and a jury trial

Three Hong Kong judges are expected to deliver a verdict on Tuesday in the first trial of a person charged under the national security law, a landmark case with implications on how the legislation reshapes the city’s common law traditions.

Former waiter Tong Ying-kit, 24, has pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism and inciting secession, as well as an alternative charge of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. The acts he is accused of allegedly occurred on 1 July 2020 shortly after the law was enacted.

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Hong Kong: five arrested for sedition over children’s book about sheep – video

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Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children’s books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition. The arrests were made by the new national security police unit, which is undertaking a sweeping crackdown on dissent. The two men and three women detained had 'conspired to publish, distribute, exhibit or copy seditious publications', the unit said

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Five arrested in Hong Kong for sedition over children’s book about sheep

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Books tried to explain the pro-democracy movement, portraying supporters as sheep surrounded by wolves

Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children’s books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition.

The arrests by the new national security police unit, which is spearheading a sweeping crackdown on dissent, are the latest action against pro-democracy activists since huge and often violent protests convulsed the city two years ago.

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