Thread by @AFP

#BREAKING Hong Kong police detain democracy leader on Tiananmen anniversary: AFP

#UPDATE Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Chow Hang-tung was detained by Hong Kong police on Friday morning as the city prepared to mark the anniversary of Beijing's deadly Tiananmen crackdown.

Plainclothes police arrested Chow at her office building, @AFP witnessed

Hong Kong police have detained prominent democracy activist and lawyer Chow Hang-tung.

A police source told @AFP Chow had been arrested under section 17A of the Public Order Ordinance, which covers publicising unlawful assemblies

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Timeline: The deadly crackdown in China against protesters in 1989.

Hong Kong has banned a vigil held each June 4, which draws massive crowds to mourn those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Chow Hang-tung belongs to the Hong Kong Alliance that organises the vigil

EXCLUSIVE: Hong Kong police detain democracy leader on Tiananmen anniversary.

@AFP video of Hong Kong police detaining prominent activist Chow Hang-tung, with authorities determined to prevent any protests on the anniversary of Beijing's deadly Tiananmen crackdown

Thousands of police are on standby to prevent any public commemoration after Hong Kong banned an annual candlelight vigil marking the deadly Tiananmen crackdown.

The vigil has served for decades as a day of pro-democracy people power in Hong Kong

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China has moved to crush Hong Kong's democracy movement after protests rocked the city two years ago, hammering the freedoms and autonomy it promised the city would keep after British rule ended in 1997.

Here are some key developments over the past year

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Tiananmen anniversary: Hong Kong university students clean the 'Pillar of Shame'.

On the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, students in Hong Kong clean a memorial to those killed when Chinese troops crushed peaceful democracy protests in Beijing in 1989