Zach Crawford
(ANSA) – HONG KONG, August 15 – The Human Rights and Civil Rights Front, the coalition that promoted mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, has announced its self-dissolution, prompting an increasing crackdown on the protest. In the semi-autonomous territory of China. “Civil society faces unprecedented difficult challenges,” the movement said in a statement.
“A few days after Hong Kong lost its largest teachers’ union, the city’s leading civil society voice has been silenced, after a long campaign to discredit and weaken it by the pro-Beijing police and media,” said the head of the Chinese team. Amnesty International, Joshua Rosenzweig, in a note, commenting on the dissolution of the Front for the Defense of Human and Civil Rights, the most important pro-democracy group.
“The assault on human rights by the Hong Kong authorities has intensified. For political parties, the media and trade unions – adds Rosenzweig – unfortunately we must now add NGOs to the list of targets simply for doing their legitimate work.
“The model of self-censorship seen this week – he concludes – also points to a troubling domino effect, in which Hong Kong’s harsh national security law has accelerated the disappearance of independent civil society groups from the city.” (handle).
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Laurence Malcom
