Feng Congde, one of the leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement, was denied entry to Hong Kong ahead of the 30th anniversary of the crackdown.

On June 2 Feng Conde travelled from Japan to Hong Kong in order to attend the candlelight vigil that will be held in Victoria Park on June 4 to commemorate the massacre.

June 4 vigil in Victoria Park

Feng arrived in Hong Kong at around 1 p.m., but immigration authorities refused him entry. According to Hong Kong-based Apple Daily, he was approached by an immigration officer and told he had to return to the plane and fly back to Tokyo.

Feng Congde had planned to attend the Victoria Park vigil as well as visit the June 4 Museum.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung (張建宗) was asked by reporters at an event whether immigration officials denying Feng entry was a suppression of freedom of speech. Cheung refused to “comment on individual cases” saying that “immigration authorities have established policies.”

Hong Kong’s Immigration Department declined to comment on the case, adding that it makes each decision “in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong and established immigration policies.”

Last year Chinese dissident Wang Xizhe was detained at Hong Kong International Airport and interrogated for 3 hours. Immigration officers allowed him to enter Hong Kong only after he had pledged not to talk to the media, meet any politically sensitive people or attend any public event during his stay.

In April of this year, however, Wang was refused entry altogether and sent back to the United States, where he has lived for 20 years. Wang was one of the last Chinese citizens to be smuggled to the then-British colony of Hong Kong in 1996 from his home in southern China’s Guangdong province, before Beijing took over Hong Kong a year later and shut down the escape route.

Feng Congde called Hong Kong “the frontline” of the struggle against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He urged the people of Hong Kong to protest the new fugitive law which would allow mainland China to request the extradition of individuals from Hong Kong.

“The CCP never keep their promises,” Feng said, adding that for Beijing the rule of law of Hong Kong, enshrined in the Basic Law, is only a “temporary expedient.”

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