This year on June 4th, there were no candlelights at Victoria Park Football Stadium. Instead, it was replaced by a festive “Homeland Market Carnival”. Inside the venue, the atmosphere was jubilant, but outside, it was a completely different story.

Outside, many people were taken away by the police for various reasons. One of the key incidents of the day was the arrest of former HKJA Chairman and Radio France Internationale freelance journalist Mak Yin-ting in Causeway Bay. The HKJA issued a statement the following day, criticizing the police for the unreasonable detention of journalists, hindering their work, and demanding an explanation from the police.

The police stated that a total of 23 people were taken away in Causeway Bay throughout the day. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed shock on Twitter at the police actions and urged the authorities to release all those detained for “exercising their freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”. The Security Bureau later condemned these remarks, calling them unreasonable and slanderous.