Group to keep up June 4 vigil in Senado Square despite rejection

http://www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/macau/52810-group-to-keep-up-june-4-vigil-in-senado-square-despite-rejection.html

The Open Macau Society (OMS) submitted a letter to the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) yesterday and announced that it will hold an assembly at Senado Square near the fountain on June 4 this year, which is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
OMS previously submitted an application to IACM, asking to organize a commemorative vigil near the fountain. However, the Bureau rejected the application because it had given the venue “to organizations that routinely organize events in Senado Square on June 4”. IACM replied that Senado Square will be used by the Chinese Student Association to hold an entertainment show for Children’s Day.
The organization’s president, Jason Chao, told the Times that they think the reason given by IACM was “sloppy and absurd”. “We think that the vigil is very important and we have to do it. Therefore, we are not organizing it as an event, but as an assembly.”
He further explained that the unique feature of an assembly is that, according to a ruling of the Court of Final Appeal in 2010, the administration cannot prevent other people from holding an assembly at a location because other events are already taking place there. Jason Chao said that the government cannot stop them from assembling there without a stronger legal standpoint.
He also criticized IACM’s response, saying that the Bureau was hardly fair in terms of selecting which organization can hold an event at the venue. “You [IACM] neither conducted drawing nor adopted the first-come, first serve policy. How can you be fair even though you always claim to be so? IACM should answer what factors they had considered before rejecting our application.”
The president said that there might be people who will try to interfere with their assembly. But he believes that the Public Security Police (PSP) should protect their rights. “If it is the PSP who are interfering [with] us, we are going to sue them for abuse of power.”
Since they only announced it yesterday, Jason Chao said they do not know how many people will be taking part in their assembly. But he stressed that it is only one of the commemorative events and provides residents with more choice. “If you [residents] like to sit down and not involved in any conflict, you can go to the one organized by another group outside St. Dominique Church. Or if you insist on going back to the fountain like us, you can come to us”, Jason Chao explained.
The other group gathered the Largo de São Domingos is the Democratic Development Association, led by lawmakers Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San. Jason Chao commented that he is not trying to compete for participants. “By retaking Senado Square we are expanding the spectrum of the event mourning for the deaths of the 4th of June,” he said.