Pro-democracy group The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China is being investigated by national security forces.
Police sent a letter to the group requesting information about its membership, finances, and activities. According to a copy the group sent to reporters, the deadline the police have given them is September 7.
The letter accused the alliance of being “an agent of foreign forces”. Failure to provide the information by the deadline could result in a HK$100,000 fine and six months in jail, the letter said.
Similar letters were sent to several individuals and associations that are members of the alliance, the group said.
“It’s ridiculous that the police accused the alliance of being an agent of foreign forces,” alliance vice-chairwoman Chow Hang Tung told Reuters. “It has nothing to do with any foreign agents nor has it received any instructions from foreign countries.”
This marks the latest blow to the opposition movement, which has come under immense pressure since Beijing imposed a national security law last year that punishes broadly defined crimes such as collusion with up to life in prison.
Since then, scores of opposition politicians and activists have been arrested, jailed, or fled into exile. Civil society groups have also disbanded, including the Professional Teachers’ Union, after it was criticized by Chinese state media.
Critics of the law say it is being used to crush dissent, assertion authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong reject.
The pro-democracy group organizes Hong Kong’s annual June 4 rally to commemorate those who died in the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.
