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Hong Kong pro-Beijing groups seek to hold carnival at former Tiananmen vigil venue during anniversary period
Pro-Beijing groups in Hong Kong are seeking to organise a carnival in part of Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park, where annual vigils were held for decades to mark the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The event period is set to cover the crackdown’s 35th anniversary on June 4. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) told HKFP on Friday that an organisation had applied to use the football pitches, central lawn and basketball courts for a public event between May 27 and June 8. The application was being handled at the moment, the department said. The department did not provide any further informa...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Regular fireworks show to begin May Day, as Hong Kong links up with mainland China influencers to boost tourism
A marine pyrotechnic display will take place across Victoria Harbour during next Wednesday’s May Day public holiday, kicking off a campaign of monthly fireworks shows to boost tourism, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has announced. In a statement released on Thursday, the HKTB said the fireworks show will begin at 8pm on Labour Day near the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade. The theme will be the colour gold, showcasing the initials “HK” and a smiley face. The government announced during the 2024 Budget that some HK$1.09 billion had been allocated to boost tourism, with the HKTB hosting monthly firew...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Security law: EU parliament calls for sanctions on Hong Kong leaders; city slams ‘hypocrisy with double standards’
The Hong Kong government has “strongly opposed” a resolution adopted by the European Parliament, which condemned the enactment of the city’s domestic security law and called for sanctions against Chief Executive John Lee and other government officials. The European Union had made “exaggerating remarks” and demonstrated “typical political hegemony and hypocrisy with double standards” with a resolution passed on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong government said in a statement late on Thursday. Concerns over Article 23The resolution targeted Hong Kong’s homegrown security law which came ...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Jimmy Lai was fearless and ‘led by example’ after security law came into force, Hong Kong activist tells court
Media mogul Jimmy Lai was fearless and “led by example” after the Beijing-enacted security law came into force, an activist testifying against the tycoon in his high-profile trial has said. Chan Tsz-wah, a paralegal who was charged alongside Lai and is now a witness for the prosecution, appeared at West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Thursday as the defence began questioning him. Marc Corlett, one of Lai’s lawyers, asked Chan whether it had been his “intention… to deliberately take action [he] knew to be in breach” of the national security law. The activist said it “depended on what kind of pe...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Hong Kong’s treasurer tells visiting UK minister that BN(O) passport not recognised for early pension withdrawal
Hong Kong’s treasury chief, in a meeting with a visiting UK minister, has reaffirmed that emigrants who want to withdraw their pensions from the city’s official fund cannot use their British National (Overseas) passports as proof of identity. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui also told Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK minister for the Indo-Pacific, that the city’s newly-passed security legislation will create a “stable and prosperous” business environment. She expressed concern at what she called the erosion of rights in the city. Trevelyan was on a six-day visit to...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Hong Kong audit watchdog slams Post Office, dental service for failing to safeguard national security
Hong Kong’s official auditor has criticised the Post Office, public dental services, bus operators and a government-funded NGO for failing to include national security clauses in contracts with various suppliers. The Audit Commissioner released reports on Wednesday covering eight government sectors. While examining their spending and efficiency, it also urged various departments to safeguard national security in accordance with the Beijing-drafted law enacted in June 2020. The watchdog said the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE), an NGO fully funded by the government, had not estab...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Nat. security trial for ex-leaders of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil group will not begin this year, judge says
The national security trial of three former leaders of a now-disbanded Tiananmen vigil group will not begin this year, a Hong Kong judge has said, more than two years since the group was charged. Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho, and Lee Cheuk-yan, formerly of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, appeared on Wednesday in the High Court for a second case management hearing. The trio, along with the alliance itself, were jointly charged in September 2021 under the Beijing-imposed national security law with inciting subversion of state power. Chow and Lee had bee...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Hong Kong press group’s fundraising concert moves online after live show axed over ‘irresistible force’
A fundraising concert organised by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) has been forced to move online, after the live performance was axed due to “irresistible force,” the press group said. HKJA announced on Wednesday that the live concert scheduled for Sunday would take place online on May 8, after the show was called off due to unforeseen circumstances in the final stages of preparation. “[The fundraising concert] has unfortunately been cancelled due to an irresistible force in the final stages of preparation… We hope that everyone can continue to support us in this new format,” a C...
Hong Kong Free Press
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2019 protests: Radical groups stole chemicals from Hong Kong universities for bomb plot, court hears
Radical groups broke into two university laboratories to steal chemicals for a bomb plot to murder police officers during the 2019 protests and unrest, the prosecution told a terrorism jury trial on Wednesday. Seven people are standing trial under the city’s anti-terrorism act at the High Court, with prosecutors – for the first time – invoking the offence to charge a group accused of planning to carry out a bomb attack during a rally on December 8, 2019. The plot allegedly took place during the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations and unrest which rocked the city that year. The 60-day jury...
Hong Kong Free Press
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Arrest of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai’s was ‘heavy blow’ to activist group’s US ties, court hears
Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai’s arrest dealt a “heavy blow” to pro-democracy advocacy group Stand With Hong Kong, causing it to lose its connections to US politicians, the media mogul’s national security trial has heard. Activist Andy Li was also arrested in the same police swoop on August 10, 2020, but the activist group had a “Plan B” to sustain lobbying efforts overseas, said paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who stands accused of conspiring with Lai and others to collude with foreign forces. Lai faces two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish “sed...
Hong Kong Free Press
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