Hong Kong (AP) — The city’s annual Cheonan Gate Candlelight says the Hong Kong government has arbitrarily labeled democratization-promoting organizations as foreign agents and is subject to prosecution under strict national security laws. The leader of the group that organized Vigil said on Tuesday.

Chow Hang-tang, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance, which supports China’s movement for democratic socialism, commented shortly before submitting a letter to police denying their request for details on the operation and finances of the alliance.

“For now, it’s a meaningless and arbitrary label by the government,” Chow said. “That’s wrong.”

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said earlier Tuesday that law enforcement agencies could, in accordance with the law, request information from suspicious foreign agents or foreign political organizations.

“If someone says they openly ignore the law, they can’t call themselves a civil society group,” Ram said.

The alliance, known for organizing an annual rally to show bloody 1989 crackdowns on opposition to democratization at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, is currently being investigated by police allegedly working for foreign interests. ing. Authorities have banned vigilance for the past two years for violating coronavirus restrictions.

In a statement, police said they were not “foreign agents” and therefore had no right to request information from the group, and authorities did not provide sufficient justification for their request.

“The association does not provide the information required by the letter because it believes there is no legal basis for issuing the letter,” the Commission said.

The group first announced a decision on Sunday to reject police requests. Police warned the alliance that failure to comply could result in a fine of HK $ 100,000 ($ 12,900) and imprisonment of up to six months.

Security Minister Chris Tan said Tuesday that “quick and efficient” action would be taken against those who did not cooperate with police’s request to provide information in accordance with the law.

Hong Kong officials have cracked down on complaints over the past year after Beijing imposed drastic national security legislation in response to months of anti-government protests in 2019.

Dozens of democratic activists have been arrested, and the city has amended its election law to increase the number of seats in the building legislators and reduce the number of directly elected members.

Critics say the National Security Act, which has been used to arrest more than 100 people, rolls back the freedom promised to the former British colony when it was handed over to mainland China in 1997. Hong Kong has been promised freedom not found on the mainland for 50 years, including freedom of speech and assembly.