Hong Kong detains an artist on the eve of the 35th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown

By KANIS LEUNG
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police have briefly detained a performance artist on the eve of the 35th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, signaling the city’s shrinking freedom of expression. Police on Monday took away Sanmu Chen on a street of Causeway Bay, a busy Hong Kong shopping district, close to a park that used to host an annual vigil to mourn the victims of the 1989 crackdown. Before officers approached Chen, he mimed the action of drinking in front of a police van. For decades, the vigil used to draw at least thousands of people each June 4 to remember the crackdown. But it has vanished under the shadow of a Beijing-imposed security law.