Hong Kong Police arrest 4 activists behind banned Tiananmen Square vigil: Report

Hong Kong Police have arrested four key members of the pro-democracy group behind the city's annual Tiananmen Massacre vigil.

According to Hong Kong Free Press, the arrests came the morning after they publicly refused a police demand for information as part of a national security probe into the 32-year-old group.

Chow Hang-tung, the vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and three committee members -- Simon Leung, Sean Tang and Chan To-wai -- were arrested early on Wednesday and are being held at separate police stations, according to the report.

The police were cited as confirming the arrests later in the day and adding that further arrests are not being ruled out.

The police sent a request seeking information from the group under provisions of the controversial national security law in late August, as the authorities believed the alliance had been working with foreign agents, which could violate the legislation enacted by Beijing last year.

Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong used to organize an annual vigil to commemorate victims of student protests that broke out in Beijing on April 15, 1989, and culminated on June 4 of that year in violent clashes which claimed over 200 lives.

In June 2020, the police banned the vigil for the first time in thirty years in view of protests in Hong Kong over Beijing's plans to adopt new security legislation, while officially citing the need to comply with coronavirus-related restrictions.

China, with the help of local authorities, has been ruling Hong Kong with an iron fist. Authorities have also begun clamping down on pro-democracy activists.

As China has strengthened control over Hong Kong through varieties of laws including the draconian National Security Law, the people of the semi-autonomous city are facing increasing policing and crackdown.

(ANI)