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Long-standing pro-democracy rally organizer to be outlawed: report

蘋果日報 2021/03/06 05:35


The group behind Hong Kong’s biggest annual pro-democracy protest may be outlawed on the grounds of national security after allegations the organizers received donations from an American group.
The Civil Human Rights Front, a non-profit organization that has for nearly 20 years held protests calling for universal suffrage and the protection of civil liberties, is accused of receiving funds from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, according to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao newspaper.
Authorities may be making use of the recently established national security legislation to ban the group, or a local piece of legislation that bans societies from giving rise to national security issues, according to the report.
The front organized its first mass rally on July 1, 2003, when protesters opposed a locally proposed piece of national security legislation for the city best known as Article 23. The turnout of about 500,000 people forced the government to shelve the bill. The front — a loose coalition of civic groups, unions and political parties — has subsequently held numerous peaceful demonstrations.
Even during the violent street protests in 2019, the group insisted on non-violent resistance in opposing a highly controversial extradition arrangement with mainland China, with one of its protests drawing two million people, a record turnout for the city. Despite its milder approach, it has been denounced by pro-Beijing politicians, often in harsh terms.
In 2019, an editorial published by the pro-Beijing Takungpao newspaper described the group as a “terrorist organization.” One of its leaders, Jimmy Sham, has suffered violent assaults on at least two occasions.
Its current convenor, Figo Chan, categorically denied receiving funding from the American group. He described the possible ban as an “obvious stitch-up” as part of a wider campaign to suppress dissent in the city.
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