An annual World Press Photo exhibition showing images of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong has been closed in Macau without explanation, raising suspicions of political pressure from Beijing.
Read also: Repression of Democrats in Hong Kong: "Beijing's promises are worthless"
The exhibition, hosted by the Association Casa de Portugal Macao every year since 2008, was to take place from the end of September to October 18.
It featured “
the best of visual journalism
” from the past year, including award-winning images of the Hong Kong protests, taken by AFP photographer Nicolas Asfouri.
Read also: After the arrest of Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong people flock to his tabloid
The World Press Photo Foundation, the world's most famous photojournalism award, said in a statement “
regretted
” the premature closure of the exhibition and “
not been able to confirm the reasons
” for it.
“
While the reasons for the closure remain unclear, we are following local press reports suggesting that this could be the result of outside pressure related to the content of the exhibition,
” said Laurens Korteweg, director of exhibitions at the Foundation. from World Press Photo.
“
Supporting the conditions of freedom of expression, freedom of investigation and freedom of the press is an essential part of our work,
” he added.
The exhibit featured photos of the massive pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong for months in 2019.
The Macau English and Portuguese Press Association told local media that the city was "
facing a serious situation and a disturbing episode, signaling an erosion of the place allotted to freedom and expression
”, if the closing of the exhibition was due to political pressure.
In May, the gambling capital of the world banned a photo exhibition of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989, for the first time in three decades.
Former colonies, Macau and Hong Kong were able to enjoy freedoms unknown in mainland China when they were returned to China.
But many fear that these are disappearing as Beijing tightens its grip.
In Hong Kong, after last year's protests, China's central government began to regain control with a draconian national security law imposed in late June.