Two organizers of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square vigil entered not guilty pleas Thursday, while a third pleaded guilty in a trial that tests the limits of Hong Kong’s national security law. Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan were charged with inciting subversion for their work with the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group that organized decades of annual vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Albert Ho, also a former leader of the alliance, entered a guilty plea before Judge Alex Lee.
The case centers on the alliance’s call to end one-party rule, which prosecutors argue violates China’s constitution. The trial underscores how Hong Kong’s 2020 national security law has curtailed the forms of political dissent and public commemoration that the city once tolerated, displacing what was Asia’s only large-scale public acknowledgment of the Tiananmen crackdown.
A hearing for arguments over defense witnesses is scheduled to resume Friday. Judge Alex Lee, who is presiding, will handle Ho’s request for a lighter sentence after the trial concludes.
Prosecutors argue that the alliance’s call to end one-party rule amounts to inciting subversion under China’s constitution. Prosecutor Ned Lai told the court Thursday that the alliance promoted this objective through multiple channels, including a museum dedicated to the 1989 crackdown and public activities and discussions.
Historical vigil becomes focal point in security-law debate
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China organized an annual vigil in Victoria Park that had become Asia’s only large-scale public commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown. The gathering had continued for decades until authorities banned it in 2020, citing COVID-19 restrictions.
After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, pro-Beijing groups organized a carnival in the same park, preventing commemorative gatherings. Those who attempted to mark the Tiananmen crackdown near the site were detained by authorities.
Before the charges were filed, the alliance voted to disband in September 2021. Police had sought operational details from the group, asserting they had grounds to suspect it was acting as a foreign agent—a claim the alliance rejected and refused to verify.
Expert analysis: The law criminalizes political speech
Urania Chiu, a law lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, said the case centers on a foundational free-speech question. “The prosecution case hinges on the argument that the Alliance’s general call for ‘bringing the one-party rule to an end’ constitutes subversion without more, which amounts to criminalizing an idea, a political ideal that is very far from being actualized,” she said.
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said it simply. “This case was about rewriting history and punishing those who refuse to forget the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown,” she said.
Witness testimony to the moral stakes
Those gathered to observe the trial offered their own sense of its significance. Tang Ngok-kwan, a former core member of the alliance who had waited since Monday afternoon to secure a seat in the gallery, said the defendants’ defense was itself a moral act. “They use their freedom to exchange for a dignified defense,” he said. “It’s about being accountable to history.”
Prior convictions overturned, broader enforcement pattern
In a separate case in 2023, Chow, Tang, and another core member were convicted of failing to provide authorities information about the group and each received 4½-month sentences. The trio overturned those convictions at Hong Kong’s highest court in 2025.
The national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 has been used to prosecute political dissent across the territory. The same statute led to the conviction of former media mogul Jimmy Lai in December. Dozens of civil society organizations have ceased operations since the law took effect.
Beijing has stated the security law was necessary to stabilize Hong Kong following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 that drew hundreds of thousands of people into the streets.