(Hong Kong) “Times have changed”: the Civic Party, one of the main pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong, lowered the curtain at the end of December, following a self-dissolution procedure which relieved its co-founder of a “burden” that is increasingly difficult to bear in the face of pressure from Beijing.
Alan Leong has only kept six green and purple pins, bearing the date of creation of the party, March 19, 2006, from these years of struggle, between electoral successes and legal proceedings.
“I have never doubted the ability of the Hong Kong people to govern Hong Kong, but there are things that are beyond our control,” says the experienced politician, aged 65, in a series of interviews with AFP over the past six months.
The former leader today feels “relieved” to be able to “finally remove the burden” from his shoulders, he assures.
The Civic Party, nicknamed “the lawyers’ party” because several of its founders worked in the legal sector, voted to self-disband in May, due to being unable to establish a leadership following the repression suffered by its members.
“Political reality”, as well as the absence of funds and morality, led to this decision, believes Alan Leong, who has recently seen the movement’s headquarters empty of furniture and campaign speakers.
” Radicalization ”
Since the national security law imposed in 2020 by China, the movement has been decimated: imprisonment of three of its members, dismissal of its local elected officials, and manhunt against one of its former deputies in exile…
The Civic Party was created to promote the democratization of Hong Kong, considered compromised by Beijing, which took the keys to the metropolis following the 1997 handover by the British.
The disappointed promise to elect leaders by universal suffrage was “the starting point for the creation of the party”, recalls Albert Lai, one of the early cadres, who remembers the aspirations to become “a party that governs “.
The party, once the second largest opposition force in Hong Kong, helped, alongside its radical allies in the League of Social Democrats, to trigger a by-election in 2010, presented as a symbolic referendum on the democratization of the city. . Beijing condemned an “unconstitutional” maneuver at the time.
Ronny Tong, one of the co-founders who defected in 2015 to create his own movement, later recognized the “radicalization” of the Civic Party at that time.
“It was an act of confrontation,” this current member of the government declared to a pro-power media in June, conceding “regretted” having participated in the creation of the movement.
Lawsuits
This year, Chinese state television called the Civic Party an “anti-China destabilization organization.”
Seven Civic Party members faced legal action following massive 2019 pro-democracy protests, for organizing fundraisers for protesters, and for participating in an unofficial primary election to select candidates of the opposition in view of the legislative elections — a crime against national security in the eyes of the Hong Kong government.
All of its elected officials on the city councils were also dismissed, under the “patriots” doctrine imposed by Beijing, aimed at eliminating any discordant voice from the public service.
Former MP Dennis Kwok, who is among those who lost his seat and now lives abroad, is wanted for “collusion” by the police, who have placed a reward of one million Hong Kong dollars (approximately $169,000 CAN) on his head.
But for Alan Leong, history is made up of cycles, which make the future of the metropolis uncertain despite the increasingly strong pressure exerted by Beijing.
“I am sure that another party will emerge,” he says.