HONG KONG — Nine Hong Kong activists and ex-lawmakers on Wednesday were given jail sentences of up to 10 months over their roles in last year’s banned Tiananmen Square candlelight vigil, the latest blow in an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the city.
The nine are part of a group of 12 defendants who pleaded guilty earlier this month to participating in the vigil that was the only large-scale public commemoration on Chinese soil of the 1989 crackdown in Beijing on student-led protests. Three others were given suspended sentences.
They were all charged with taking part in an unauthorized assembly, with seven of them facing an additional charge for inciting others to take part in the event.
Police last year banned the annual vigil for the first time in three decades, citing public-health risks from the coronavirus pandemic. Critics believe the ban is part of the crackdown on opposition in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory after months of anti-government protests in 2019.
More than a dozen activists turned up at the June 4 vigil despite the ban, and thousands followed suit. The crowds broke through barriers set up around the Victoria Park venue to light candles and sing songs despite police warnings.
Police later arrested over 20 activists, including leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the association that organizes the yearly vigil.