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| See also: | Other events of 2020 History of Hong Kong • Timeline • Years | ||||
Events in the year 2020 in Hong Kong.
Lai Chee-ying, also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital, a Hong Kong-listed media company, and the popular newspaper Apple Daily. He is one of the main contributors to the pro-democracy camp, especially to the Democratic Party. Although he is known as a Hong Kong political figure, he has been a British national since 1996. Lai is also an art collector.
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, SC KC is a Hong Kong Senior Counsel and politician. He is a current non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. He co-founded the Civic Party and was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the New Territories East constituency from 2004 until he quit the party and resigned from the legislature on 22 June 2015, following the historic vote on Hong Kong electoral reform a few days earlier, having switched his political alignment from pro-democracy to pro-Beijing Hong Kong political group Path of Democracy, of which he is currently the convener.
Tam Yiu-chung, GBM, JP is a pro-Beijing politician in Hong Kong. He is a former member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) and former chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).
Priscilla Leung Mei-funSBS JP is a barrister and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, representing the Election Committee since 2022. She previously represented the Kowloon West constituency from 2008 to 2021. She was a member of Kowloon City District Council.
In the days following the end of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, several memorials and vigils were held around the world for those who were killed in the demonstrations. Since then, annual memorials have been held in places outside of mainland China, most notably in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States.
Eunice Yung Hoi-yan is a Hong Kong barrister and pro-Beijing politician. She is a former member of the New People's Party (NPP) and the Civil Force (CF). She became member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for New Territories East in 2016 and for Election Committee in 2021. She stepped down in December 2023 after her home was searched by the Hong Kong National Security Police.
The 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests were a series of demonstrations against the Hong Kong government's introduction of a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in regard to extradition. It was the largest series of demonstrations in the history of Hong Kong.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Hong Kong on 23 January 2020. Confirmed cases were generally transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital's Infectious Disease Centre for isolation and centralised treatment. On 5 February, after a five-day strike by front-line medical workers, the Hong Kong government closed all but three border control points including Hong Kong International Airport, Shenzhen Bay Control Point, and Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge Control Point remaining open.
This is a timeline of events in April 2020 surrounding the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. The COVID-19 pandemic had caused a decline in the number and scale of the protests, although the Hong Kong government, police and protesters expected that with signs of the pandemic beginning to ease in Hong Kong, major protests of the kind the city had seen before the pandemic would again erupt in summer. Most protest-related activities happened online, especially on games like Animal Crossing. This resulted in a ban on the sale of Animal Crossing in China. Hong Kong police arrested 15 Democrats on the morning of 18 April, citing their alleged participation in "unlawful" gatherings that had taken place in August and October 2019 in the context of the protests. This drew international condemnation, with accusations being made that the crackdown had been carried out at the behest of the Chinese central government, and taken advantage of many Western democracies being severely hit by the pandemic, hampering their response.
The month of May in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests saw a resurgence of protests. This was partly due to the containment of the coronavirus pandemic, with a total of less than 50 newly reported cases, and a small uptick in cases at the end of the month. These were the first major protests erupting since early March. Tensions increased again as police employed heavy-handed tactics including towards minors and journalists.
The 31st anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 was principally events that occurred in China and elsewhere on and leading up to 4 June 2020 – to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, in which thousands of people are widely believed to have been killed.
The month of June 2020 was the first anniversary of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. The decision taken by the National People's Congress on national security legislation and the alleviation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong led to a new series of protests and international responses. On 30 June, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the Hong Kong national security law which came into force the same day, leading to even more people protesting on 1 July.
The month of August 2020 in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests saw only sparse and relatively small protests, mainly due to the city going through a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and an outdoor gathering ban on groups of more than two people. As the impact of the Hong Kong National Security Law on the city became increasingly evident, and additionally in response to acts by representatives of the local and mainland governments throughout the protests, Western democracies continued to voice sharp criticism and implemented sanctions against China, with the United States imposing sanctions on 11 Hong Kong officials on 7 August. These developments supported the opinion expressed by former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind in late June that the protests had morphed from a mostly local dispute into an international one.
The offices of Apple Daily, once the largest pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, and its parent company, Next Digital, were raided and executives arrested by the Hong Kong Police Force on 10 August 2020 and again on 17 June 2021. Some of the arrested and three companies of Next Digital were charged under the Hong Kong national security law. The 26-year-old newspaper was forced to close in June 2021 following the raids and freezing of its capital.
On 6 September, the biggest protests in the course of the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests since 1 July occurred in the city. The fresh protests were in a large part due to the day having been the scheduled election day for the Legislative Council; on 31 July, the Hong Kong government had the elections postponed by a year, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, a justification that was widely doubted. The unauthorized protests resulted in nearly 300 arrests, one of them on suspected violation of the national security law, and brought the total number of arrests during the entire protests since June 2019 to above 10,000.
The 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests featured events in China and elsewhere on, and leading up to, 4 June 2021 – to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, in which the government of China ordered the army to fire on protestors, killing hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
A dramatic manifestation of the far reach of the Hong Kong national security law was the mass arrest of 54 pro-democracy activists on 6 January. The arrested stood accused of subverting state power, a crime under the national security law, for their participation as candidates or in other capacities, in the 2020 Hong Kong pro-democracy primaries, which was part of a plan to increase pressure in parliament for democratic reform. Most of them were released on bail the following day. For the first time, the National Security Department of the police cited the national security law to block the website of HKChronicles. There were also several convictions in relation to the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests.
On 22 February 2021, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, proposed that Hong Kong's governance had to be in the hands of "patriots". Observers considered it possible that the definition of "patriot" would require candidates for public office to embrace the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, as also suggested by Hong Kong Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang; and that this signified a departure from the position that had prevailed since a speech by China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1984.
Few protests took place in June 2021 and there were no large-scale demonstrations in threat of the national security law. The anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre on 4 June saw only small crowds or single individuals engaging in vigils in the vicinity of Victoria Park – the venue of large vigils on the same occasion in past years – before police dispersed them. The pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily once again had its headquarters raided by police using the national security law; its executives were arrested. Security Bureau also froze the assets of three Apple Daily companies, which led the newspaper to print its final edition on 24 June. Many pan-democratic groups disbanded at the end of the month under pressure from the law.
Paul Lam Ting-kwok is a Hong Kong Senior Counsel who is the current Secretary for Justice.
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