Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy organization is closing shop after nearly 20 years of activism due to crackdowns by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), the primary organizer of widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019 and of the city’s annual July 1 rally, confirmed Sunday it had disbanded. The group’s operations had been significantly hampered during the past year after the signing of a new national security law in June 2020 that imposed new restrictions on civil liberties in Hong Kong.
BREAKING: Organiser of mass Hong Kong demos Civil Human Rights Front disbands citing ‘unprecedented challenges’ https://t.co/9UKsEHaGP4 pic.twitter.com/BlPhD2uCMr
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) August 15, 2021
The group has faced intense scrutiny from police in recent months, according to NBC News. In April, it was accused of violating the national security law and ordered to turn over information on financial activities and past organizing. (RELATED: Biden Offers ‘Safe Haven’ To Thousands Of Hong Kong Residents)
CHRF said its members voted to disband immediately in its annual meeting held Friday, but police say they will continue to pursue investigations into the group’s members.
“The police reiterated that for crimes committed by an organization and its members, the criminal responsibility will not be wiped out due to the disbandment or resignation of the members,” police said in a statement.
Leadership for the group cited the national security law and pressure from the CCP as the drivers of the decision to disband.
“In the past year, the government has continued to use the epidemic as an excuse to reject demonstrations’ applications from CHRF and other groups,” CHRF said in a statement released Sunday. “Member groups have been suppressed, and civil society has faced unprecedented severe challenges.”
This year’s planned July 1 rally, which celebrates the handing over of Hong Kong from British control to China in 1997, was hampered by coronavirus restrictions put in place by authorities. Police shut down parts of Victoria Park, where the rally is typically held, citing the risk of the pandemic.
Authorities arrested former CHRF convener Jimmy Sham in January and then-convener Figo Chan in December 2020. Chan was sentenced to 18 months in prison in May. Hong Kong authorities have accused CHRF of being funded by the U.S. government’s National Endowment for Democracy, which CHRF denies. Such funding would put the group in violation of the 2020 national security law, which prohibits foreign funding of NGOs in the city. (RELATED: China Accuses US Of ‘Sinister Intentions’ In Calling Out Its Human Rights Abuses)
The disbandment of the group was met with celebration by mouthpieces for the CCP. State-controlled CGTN ran an op-ed Monday wishing “goodbye and good riddance” to the organization, while a spokesman the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council told state-run Xinhua News Agency that the “illegal” and “anti-China” CHRF must be punished “severely” for destabilizing Hong Kong and provoking anti-China sentiment.