Hong Kong's June 4th Museum temporarily closes over licensing probe
02 June, 2021
Hong Kong's June 4th Museum, focused on commemorating the victims of China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, said on Wednesday (Jun 2) it could temporarily close due to a licensing investigation.
The museum said in a statement that officers from the meals and Environmental Hygiene Division (FEHD) entered its premises on Tuesday, claiming it hadn't obtained a public entertainment venue licence and was potentially in breach of regulations.
FEHD said in a good statement its probe was launched after it had received a complaint that the location operated with out a licence.
The museum, opened ten years ago and run by the Hong Kong Alliance to get Patriotic Democratic Actions of China, said it could seek legal services, and close until further notice to protect the safety of workers and visitors.
"Facing the existing difficult political condition, the Alliance deeply believes that Hong Kongers won't forget Jun 4," the statement said.
The Alliance "hopes Hong Kongers will still be wise, flexible and motivated to commemorate Jun 4 legally, safely, peacefully, rationally within their own way, at a suitable time and place, in a way that the truth will never be forgotten".
The inspection raises worries over liberty of speech in Hong Kong, which traditionally retains the largest Jun 4 vigil in the world to commemorate the crackdown. Mainland China bans commemorations and intensely censors the topic.
After Beijing set the financial hub onto an authoritarian path using its imposition of a sweeping national security law this past year, fears have become that such vigils - which typically draw tens of thousands - would not be allowed any more.
Police have cited coronavirus constraints to ban the vigil for the next consecutive year this season. Authorities possess warned the general public that getting involved in an unauthorised assembly raises the chance as high as five years in prison, while "advertising or publicising" illegitimate rallies may cause up to 12 weeks.
Commemorations are actually particularly awkward for Beijing this season, as the Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Asked whether a vigil would violate the protection law, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said sole that it was important to show value to the Party.
The museum reopened on Sunday after closing for renovations for a number of weeks.
The Alliance's chairman Lee Cheuk-Yan is in jail accused of taking part in an unauthorised assembly.
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