Protest group: National Security Law an "absurd abuse of power"

The group behind the annual Tiananmen Square memorial rally in Hong Kong said Sunday it will not cooperate with police conducting a national security investigation into the group's activities, calling it an abuse of power.

Police notified the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China last month it was under investigation for working for foreign interests, an accusation it denied.

"There is no single reason or evidence saying why they can accuse us of being a foreign agent," Chow Han Tung, vice chairwoman of the group, said at a news conference called to address the police investigation.

The investigation is part of a broad crackdown on Hong Kong civil society following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Authorities have tightened control over the city with a sweeping national security law imposed by China's ruling Communist Party and other changes that have forced similar civil groups to disband or seen their leaders arrested.

Police had asked the alliance to hand over any information about groups they had worked with overseas or in Taiwan, as well as contact information.

They did not mention what specific incidents was prompting the investigation.

Chow said the alliance has not been able to reach a consensus on whether to disband. It plans to hold a general meeting on Sept. 25 to discuss the matter again.

In August, the prominent Hong Kong Civil Human Rights Front, made up of a slew of member organizations, said it could no longer operate and chose to disband.

The group organized large protests in 2019.

More than 100 pro-democracy activists have been arrested under Hong Kong's national security law, which outlaws subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion to interfere in the city’s affairs. Many other activists have gone into exile abroad.

Critics say the law restricts freedoms Hong Kong was promised it could maintain for 50 years following the territory's 1997 handover to China from colonial Britain.