Hong Kong lawmakers asks whether he faces arrest under China's new security law
Lawmaker says possibility Tiananmen vigil attendees could be detained is 'unacceptable'
A pan-democratic lawmaker, who has organised annual commemorations of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, is calling for clarification on whether he would be arrested if he returns to the mainland after the enactment of the sweeping national security law.
Labour Party stalwart Lee Cheuk-yan, the former chief and now secretary of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, floated the question yesterday after the Chinese-language broadsheet Sing Tao Daily cited sources from the central government who suggested he could be detained.
The report quoted Beijing sources as saying those who called for independence or an end to one-party rule - such as Lee and alliance chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan - would likely face prosecution if they crossed the border. Both deny advocating independence.
Ending one-party rule is one of six key demands of the alliance and slogans making the demand are chanted at annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 crackdown on democracy protests.
Lee said the local administration had a duty to clarify whether vigil attendees would be arrested after the national legislature passed the national security law.
"If that is the case, then national law has already been applied to the city," Lee said. "This is absolutely unacceptable."