Hong Kong’s June 4 museum gets unexpected visit from food and hygiene regulators
Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday conducted a surprise inspection of an activist-run museum commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and asked to contact the venue’s proprietor.
Five officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department arrived at the museum at around 2 p.m. and recorded the personal information of one staff member. They left briefly, and then returned to ask more questions and tried to solicit further personal details.
The Mong Kok venue, operated by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, reopened on Sunday with a photo exhibition. An area was marked out for members of the public to lay flowers to remember victims of the June 4, 1989, massacre.
During their visit, the officers asked to see the venue’s business registration documents and to speak to the alliance’s secretary Richard Tsoi, who was not present. They took pictures of the exhibition without seizing any items.
The officers were considering whether the exhibition required a license, and employees on duty replied that the museum was operating on private premises so it needed no license, a staff member later told reporters.
Separately, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute reported on Tuesday that 47% of respondents to its survey backed vindicating the June 4 democracy movement, down from the 59% recorded last year. The support was the lowest since May 2003.
Tsoi said that, despite the percentage decline, Hongkongers’ views on the Tiananmen crackdown remained the same. The public might feel a sense of helplessness in the short term, but the alliance needed to stay calm and figure out plans for its future.
The alliance received 45.5 points out of 100 from poll respondents, with 28% believing that the group should disband while 38% opposed the idea.
As for the student movement that swept Beijing in 1989 before the crackdown, 42% of respondents believed the students did the right thing while 22% thought the opposite.
The institute held the survey between May 17 and 21, randomly interviewing 1,004 Hong Kong residents by phone.
Click
here for Chinese version
Click
here for Chinese version
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app:
bit.ly/2yMMfQETo download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play