Hong Kong: the coalition behind the big protests of 2019 dissolves itself

The Human Civil Rights Front (CHRF), a coalition behind the gigantic pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, announces its self-dissolution, invoking repression against the protest in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

"

," the movement said in a statement.

Founded in 2002 and advocating non-violence, the CHRF is at the origin of many massive protests in Hong Kong, including those of 2019 which had sometimes brought together more than a million people in this city of 7.3 million. inhabitants.

Read also: Hong Kong: the largest union is self-dissolved because of "strong pressure" from the authorities

These demonstrations, sometimes violent, have since led to a strong takeover by the Chinese central power.

Beijing notably imposed a national security law in 2020 which, in fact, criminalizes the expression of any form of opposition in Hong Kong.

More than sixty people have been arrested under this draconian text.

Many members of the opposition and Western capitals accuse Beijing of reshaping the former British colony in its image, ending with the principle "

" which had governed the handover in 1997. China affirms in contrast, the National Security Law was necessary to restore order in Hong Kong after the 2019 protests.

Numerous arrests of activists

Most of the CHRF activists have been arrested and jailed, including former movement leaders Jimmy Sham and Figo Chan.

About thirty other civil society organizations have already dissolved themselves for fear of repression, according to a count kept up to date by AFP.

On August 10, Hong Kong's largest union, the Union of Professional Teachers (PTU), which has 95,000 members and which had also played an important role in the pro-democracy movement, was notably scuttled.

A few days earlier, Chinese state media had published articles about this union, calling it a "

".