on May 1 in Hong Kong

When the screen of the Covid restrictions fell, it was directly the threats from the authorities that forced two long-standing labor rights activists to withdraw their request for a permit for a parade. Meanwhile, 600,000 people are expected from mainland China for Golden Week.

Hong Kong ( / Agencies) – No “unauthorized” demonstration for Workers’ Day, but the doors are wide open to tourism from China. This will be the face of May 1 in Hong Kong, the first Labor Day after the pandemic. It is confirmed that the labor front is now the new frontier for the repression of the democratic movement, swept away by arrests.

An attempt to organize a demonstration for May 1 within the strict rules imposed by the National Security Law was nipped in the bud by the Hong Kong authorities. Activists Joe Wong and Denny To – from the now dissolved Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the union linked to the pro-democracy movement – withdrew their application in recent days after police questioned them about the source of the funding and about how they would prevent violent groups from “hijacking” the act, alluding to the pro-democratic demonstrations.

On Wednesday morning, Woe even disappeared for a few hours. His colleague To stated that he had not been detained, but that he had suffered an “emotional breakdown” and was under pressure. He cited Article 63 of the National Security Law – which prohibits disclosing information related to national security cases – in the decision to withdraw the request for a permit for the demonstration. However, To added that it is easy to imagine what happened: “Wong did everything he could to preserve assembly rights, respect and fully support his decision.”

For their part, police said anyone who took part in an illegal march or public gathering on Hong Kong Island on May 1 faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail if convicted, and promised zero tolerance.

It is worth mentioning that the former secretary of the dissolved Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) Lee Cheuk-yan has been in jail for more than two years. And that last month her wife Elizabeth Tang, who is the general secretary of the International Federation of Domestic Workers, was also detained for a few hours and her passport was confiscated. All this while the new regulations in Hong Kong endanger the rights of domestic workers.

In this context, for Hong Kong, May 1st only becomes synonymous with Golden Week, the long “bridge” for the Chinese: estimates predict an influx of 600,000 tourists from mainland China. A figure that gives hope to local operators to recover tourism bowed by the long closures of the pandemic period.