The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (Chinese: 香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會; abbr. 支聯會; ) was a pro-democracy organisation that was established on 21 May 1989 in the then British colony of Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing. After the 4 June massacre, the organisation main goals were the rehabilitation of the democracy movement and the accountability for the massacre. The main activities the organisation held were the annual memorials and commemorations, of which the candlelight vigil in Victoria Park was the most attended, reported and discussed event each year. Due to its stance, the Central government in Beijing considers the organisation subversive.
Five members of the Alliance including vice chairwoman Chow Hang-tung were arrested on 8 and 9 September 2021, after it had rejected a request by police to cooperate in an investigation into it allegedly acting as an "agent of foreign forces", a crime under the Hong Kong national security law. Three leaders of the Alliance were arrested on other national security charges on 9 September, and its assets were frozen. The Alliance finally decided to dissolve on 25 September after all standing committee members were remanded in custody or jailed.
Contents
Five operational goals
The Alliance had five operational goals:
Release the dissidents (釋放民運人士)
Rehabilitate the 1989 pro-democracy movement (平反八九民運)
Demand accountability of the 4 June massacre (追究屠城責任)
End one-party dictatorship (結束一黨專政)
Build a democratic China (建設民主中國)
History
Inception and early years
In 1989, the sudden death of the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Hu Yaobang, widely considered a liberal figure within the party leadership, sparked a series of protests at Tiananmen Square. The Hong Kong Federation of Students (FHKS) visited the student protesters in Beijing and mobilised for the support of the Hong Kong society after they returned to Hong Kong. On 20 May 1989 after Premier Li Peng imposed the martial law, the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG), an umbrella organisation of the local pro-democracy activists decided to hold a demonstration at the Victoria Park and marched to the headquarters of New China News Agency (NCNA). On 21 May during the No. 8 typhoon signal, more than a million people marched in the street in support of the Tiananmen protests. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was founded during the march.
On 4 June 1989, the Beijing government deployed troops to suppress the demonstrations. After the massacre, delegates from more than 200 civil groups elected a 20-member Standing Committee headed by Szeto Wah and Martin Lee to hold the subsequent commemorations and actions. The Alliance helped the "Operation Yellowbird", providing shelters and financial assistance in helping smuggling leaders of the democracy movement out of China. The Alliance also set up a database of the democracy movement and published works related to the movement. It also maintained close relationship with the Tiananmen Mothers initiated by Ding Zilin, a group of family members of those who were killed in the massacre, which vocally supported the democracy movements in China. State-run People's Daily accused the Alliance of having intention to overthrow the Chinese government. Szeto and Lee, who were members of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee were unseated by Beijing after the duo resigned from the committee after the massacre.
Annual commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and massacre
The annual candlelight vigil at the Victoria Park among other activities was the most iconic event organised by the Alliance, as it was the most attended consecutive commemoration of the 1989 protests. Tensions were high in 1996, which marked the seventh anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. Residents were not sure whether or not the annual demonstration would continue after the upcoming 1997 sovereignty handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. The eighth anniversary, in 1997, was just before the handover. People in the demonstration speculated that it might turn out to be the last vigil. In 1997, then Chief Executive-elect Tung Chee-hwa attempted to pressure Szeto into not organizing the vigil, and Szeto refused to speak to Tung ever again after three such attempts.
As the protests were largely censored in mainland China, the Alliance was one of the main sources of both the mainland and the local people to learn about the event. On the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the Alliance recorded a dramatic increase in number of the attendees of the vigil, which was largely due to attendees from the young generation. A year before the Alliance also organised events and protests in support of the Charter 08 movement launched by mainland democracy activists such as Liu Xiaobo. After Szeto Wah, the Alliance's founding chairman died in 2011, the chairmanship was occupied by Lee Cheuk-yan. In 2014, the Alliance opened the 4 June Museum, the world's first memorial museum for the Tiananmen protests. In 2014, Albert Ho took over from Lee as the Alliance chairman until 2019, when the post was again taken up by Lee.
The number of attendees kept at a high level until in recent years the emergence of the localist movement challenged the meaning of commemorating the Tiananmen protests, as some young localists perceived themselves as non-Chinese and disagreed with one of the goals of the Alliance, "build a democratic China". Such a view was held by localist scholar Chin Wan, who believed that the Chinese nationalistic sentiment and patriotism the Alliance projected was an obstacle for Hong Kong people to construct a distinct identity. Some other criticisms included the overlapping membership of the Alliance and the Democratic Party, the ritualisation of the vigil and the ineffectiveness of the Alliance of achieving any of its operational goals. Since 2013 as the Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict intensified, the number of the attendees to the vigil gradually dropped. From 2015 to 16, the number the Alliance recorded dropped from 180,000 to 135,000.
2021 crackdown and ensuing legal cases
Increased pressure by Hong Kong authorities, believed by observers to have been prompted by the Chinese government, had caused several pro-democracy organizations and civic groups to disband by August 2021. News of a special meeting of the Alliance on 23 August, which reportedly suggested dissolution, was seen by observers as another sign of this pressure. There were reports that the Alliance had been forewarned about legal action, should it not resolve of its own accord by the end of August. A senior superintendent of the national security department of the Hong Kong Police Force told a Hong Kong court in August 2022 that he had begun investigating the Alliance at the beginning of 2021.
In April 2021, convenor Lee Cheuk-yan was convicted, along with six other pro-democracy advocates, for his role in a rally that took place on 18 August 2019. He was sentenced to 14 months in jail for his role in this and another August 2019 rally. Fellow standing committee member, Albert Ho, was given a 12-month suspended sentence.
On the 32nd anniversary of the protests in June 2021, the vice chairwoman of the Alliance was arrested by Hong Kong Police. Chow Hang-tung was charged with promoting unauthorised assembly. She was thrust into the limelight in 2021 because Lee and Ho were both in prison. Although she was released on 5 June on bail, Chow was arrested again on 30 June and this time bail was refused. It was finally granted on 5 August.
In July 2021, the Alliance announced that it was dismissing all its permanent staff with effect from the end of the month to "ensure their safety"; seven members of its steering committee had resigned in view of "growing political and legal risks."
On 27 July, the Alliance pleaded guilty on charges of having run its museum without a proper licence and paid an amount of 8,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$1,025) as a fine. The charge had been brought by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
On 4 August, the Alliance launched an online museum to replace the physical one, which had remained closed. The Alliance stated that the move to a website, run by an independent team, had been necessary due to "drastic changes" to Hong Kong's political environment and "intensified political repression".
List of chairmen
Szeto Wah, 1989–2011
Lee Cheuk-yan, 2011–2014, 2019–2021
Albert Ho, 2014–2019