Hong Kong Alliance Leaders Face Subversion Trial Over Tiananmen Vigils

Is prosecuting Tiananmen vigil organizers authoritarian overreach by the CCP or justified enforcement of Hong Kong’s National Security Law?
Hong Kong Alliance Leaders Face Subversion Trial Over Tiananmen Vigils
Above: People hold candles in front of a Tiananmen Square backdrop during a vigil in Hong Kong on June 4, 2018. Image credit: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Anti-China narrative

The prosecution of Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Albert Ho is a cynical attempt by Beijing to criminalize three decades of peaceful remembrance. The Alliance's Victoria Park vigils, June 4 Museum and advocacy for democratic reform were nonviolent acts protected under expression and assembly rights. Detaining them for over 1,500 days and threatening up to 10 years’ imprisonment exposes the National Security Law as a tool to silence dissent, punish historical memory and shield the CCP from accountability.

Pro-China narrative

This trial aims to fairly uphold Hong Kong’s National Security Law. The Alliance's goal of ending one-party rule directly challenges the CCP’s constitutional leadership — the cornerstone of China's socialist system — and is therefore inherently unlawful. As prosecutors argue, advocacy through recruitment, fundraising, and museum activities after June 2020 amounted to incitement to subvert state power under the NSL. The courts' actions follow the precedent of Jimmy Lai’s trial, protecting national security while applying the law transparently and independently.


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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0