Police restrict Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong

HONG KONG — Heavy police force patrolled Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Saturday after authorities for a third consecutive year banned public commemoration of the anniversary of the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, with vigils overseas the only place marking the event.

For decades, Hong Kong and nearby Macao were the only places in China allowed to commemorate the violent suppression by army troops of student protesters demanding greater democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed.

The ban is seen as part of a move to snuff out political dissent and a sign that Hong Kong is losing its freedoms as Beijing tightens its grip over the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

The vigil organizers, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, disbanded last year after many of its leaders were arrested on suspicion of violating the national security law, which was imposed following massive prodemocracy protests in 2019.

Authorities have cited risks from the coronavirus for banning the public commemoration over the past three years. Critics say the pandemic is used as an excuse to infringe on the right to assemble.

Despite the ban, some residents wore black in a silent show of support, and some even carried bouquets of flowers, held candles or turned on the flashlight on their cellphones.

“Today, this is to commemorate June 4th. Every year I have to do it,” said Man Yuen, who appeared in a black Tshirt with the words “the people will not forget” while walking down the streets carrying an unlit candle.

Outside China, vigils were held to remember the Tiananmen victims.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said even though Chinese and Hong Kong were attempting to suppress the memories of the crackdown, his government would continue to speak out and promote accountability on human rights abuses by China, including those in Hong Kong, against Muslim minorities in the western Xinjiang region as well as Tibet.

“To the people of China and to those who continue to stand against injustice and seek freedom, we will not forget June 4,” he said.

The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong lit candles in the windows of the building.

In Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, hundreds took part in the vigil. The Foreign Ministry wrote on Facebook that “when this time of year comes around, there is a lot one can’t say, a lot one can’t write, and a lot one can’t even look up on the internet.”

Graduate student Joanna Chen said that commemorating the June 4 massacre is important because Taiwan is one of the few places in Greater China to commemorate such an event publicly.

“We must remind the Taiwanese people that democracy should not be taken for granted,” she said.

In Sydney, about 50 pro-democracy supporters lit candles outside the Chinese Consulate to mark the massacre, as several police officers kept watch.

In the Indian city of Dharmsala, home to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, activists organized a street theater to mark the Tiananmen anniversary. They used a cutout of a Chinese tank to recreate the “tank man,” an iconic image taken by the Associated Press of a student standing in front of a tank, which came to symbolize courage in the face of Chinese government’s crackdown of the protest.

Justin Chin/Bloomberg Police detain a protester outside Victoria Park, the traditional site of the annual Tiananmen candlelight vigil in Hong Kong, where memorials will be absent for the third year in a row.