July 1 March Cancelled for Second Year

The July 1, 2019 march is the last of the annual marches in HK

The annual July 1 march will be cancelled for a second year, with the police force citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the reason.

Up until last year it was the Civil Human Rights Front that had organized the marches since 2003, but this year announced it had disbanded as several of its prominent members, including its convenor, Figo Chan Ho-wun were in jail, and the police investigating the legality of its existence.

As a result, three civic groups decided to carry on the mantle and apply for police approval for the march that was scheduled for Thursday.

The League of Social Democrats, Tin Shui Wai Connection, and Save Lantau Alliance applied to hold the march that would coincide with the 24th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China. As expected their application was not approved.

The national security law is one year old in HK

"The police have reasons to believe that holding the activities would not just increase the risk of participants and other citizens getting infected, it would also pose grave threats to the lives and health of all citizens, endangering public safety and affecting the rights of others," the force said in its rejection letter.

The police added that officers had discussed the proposed arrangements for the march with the organizers, but believe that adding certain restrictions "would not help to ensure public order, public safety and protecting other people's rights and freedoms".

Perhaps what the force is alluding to is that Beijing doesn't want any kind of dissent on display that day.

That's because July 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. It's actually on July 23, 1921, but it's the same month...

And it will also mark the first anniversary of the implementation of the national security law, so lots to celebrate this year.

The Communist Party celebrates 100 years

However Eddie Tse Sai-kit of Save Lantau Alliance is not convinced of the force's explanation.

"The government has already relaxed the number of people allowed to gather indoors. Why not outdoors?"

He also noted the promotions of John Lee Ka-chiu to Chief Secretary and Chris Tang Ping-keung to Secretary of Security as being hardliners.

"Why is the government so scared of letting people voice their concerns on the streets?"

While these are good points, security trumps all in times of big anniversaries for China. 

Even though the three groups plan to appeal the ban on Tuesday evening, they are probably going to be rejected again.

These groups deserve kudos for trying to do their bit for civil society, but it seems this year was not to be...