![]() ![]() For example, a new feminism movement emerged in 2012, known for its street actions and “atomised” women’s rights protests, sometimes involving just one person. It has become effectively impossible for activists and groups to mobilise mass public protests. ![]() Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the already limited space to exercise freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly further diminished. Xu and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in prison respectively in April 2023. Later that month, police across the country began summoning or detaining participants in the Xiamen gathering. The group, which included Xu, had met to discuss the civil society situation and current affairs in China. Dozens of lawyers and activists associated with the network were targeted after attending an informal gathering held in Xiamen, a city on China’s southeast coast, in December 2019. The New Citizens’ Movement is a loose network of Chinese activists founded by legal scholar Xu Zhiyong in 2012 to promote government transparency and expose corruption. Many university Marxist groups active in the Jasic movement were eventually disbanded or forced to restructure. University students, labour rights advocates and other workers were detained or harassed for taking part in protests against the arrests. Days later, three of the workers were arrested. In July 2018, workers at Jasic Technology, a welding-equipment manufacturer in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, attempted to set up a trade union. Many also demanded censorship to end and some called for President Xi to step down. Peaceful protesters commemorated victims of the Urumqi fire and called for the easing of lockdown measures. In November 2022, videos shared on social media showed protests breaking out across universities and cities throughout China, including in Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai and Wuhan. The hidden history of China’s protest movementĬhinese activists have a long history of protest, post-Tiananmen, in spite of the deeply repressive environment. The Chinese government wants people to forget about this dark chapter of history – but Chow has made it her mission for everybody to remember. But I am not so afraid that I dare do nothing”. In 2021, after she posted on social media to encourage people to light candles at home, Chow Hang-tung was unjustly imprisoned in Hong Kong. Human rights lawyer and activist Chow Hang-tung is one of them.įor many years, Chow Hang-tung has helped to organise a peaceful annual remembrance of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Hong Kong. Since 1989, courageous people have been imprisoned for commemorating events or questioning the official line. Authorities have long characterised protests and public assemblies as “disruption to public order”, and under President Xi Jinping, curbs have grown even tighter, making expression through public protests exceedingly rare.īut some brave people still gather to speak out, despite the risk of being arrested. Thirty-four years on, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly remains severely restricted in mainland China. No one knows the true number of fatalities, as any discussion of the crackdown is heavily censored to this day. The proposed law has sparked a backlash from figures in the legal and business communities as well as the largest demonstrations Hong Kong has seen since 2014, a year when pro-democracy protesters took over key intersections of the city for more than two months.Ĥ June, 1989 is etched into history as the day the Chinese authorities ruthlessly stamped out peaceful protest.Ĭhinese troops shot dead hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had taken to the streets in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to call for political reforms. This year’s vigil comes at a time of huge controversy over plans by the city’s pro-Beijing government to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland for the first time. The semi-autonomous financial hub has hosted an annual vigil every year since tanks and soldiers smashed into protesters near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Jan illustration of the city’s unusual freedoms and vibrant political scene. This night marked 30 years since China’s bloody Tiananmen crackdown, a gathering tinged with symbolism as the city struggles to preserve its own cherished freedoms. ![]()
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