In the wake of growing political repression, the 32-year-old Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China – the organisation that leads the annual June 4 commemoration in the memory of 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown — has decided to lay off all staff by the end of the month.

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Nikkei Asia in a report said that mounting political pressure since the imposition of the national security law last June has compelled one of the most prominent pro-democracy organizations in the territory to virtually halt its activities.

The pro-democracy organisation, set up in May 1989 not only to support students but also citizens who sought democracy and freedom, said in a statement that the political climate in Hong Kong in the past year had turned for the worse.

According to the report, the alliance said that after discussions among standing committee members, they decided to dismiss all seven, remaining staff by the end of July to protect their safety.

Seven standing committee members recently resigned. “The organization's highest decision-making body originally numbered 20, but it was slimmed down to 14, and now has been further cut back to seven, Nikkei Asia said.

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Beijing has been aggressively clamping down on pro-democracy outfits.

Earlier, a pro-democracy Hong Kong based newspaper, Apple Daily which had been critical of Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party too closed down as the authorities raided its offices and arrested staff members and editors.

A foreign policy analyst on condition of anonymity told India Narrative that the political environment in China is changing very fast. “It is not what it was 10 years ago,” he observed.

That apart, the authorities have also been going after the private tech firms.