BANNED VIGIL
Chinese troops and tanks broke up peaceful protests in Tiananmen Square on Jun 4, 1989, brutally crushing a weeks-long wave of demonstrations calling for political change.
For decades, the annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park drew tens of thousands until its ban in 2020.
Outside the park in Causeway Bay, artists would do interpretive performances about the crackdown and the apparent erasure of memorials happening in the mainland.
The vigil’s organiser, Hong Kong Alliance, and its leaders were charged with “incitement to subversion” under the security law, which was imposed to quell the massive and often violent protests that shook the city in 2019.
Former Alliance member Chiu Yan-loy told AFP that the police had repeatedly asked him about his Jun 4 plans.
“They told me multiple times not to leave home on that day,” he said.
On Saturday, Victoria Park – which was blocked with metal barriers for the past three years – had a “hometown fair” launched by pro-Beijing groups to promote products from the mainland. It will run until Monday.
There was a heavy police presence at Victoria Park and around the Causeway Bay area on Saturday.
Officers stopped and searched people walking around the bustling shopping district, while an armoured vehicle was spotted parked outside a mall.
One performance artist – who was tailed closely by authorities on Saturday – took a quieter approach, carrying a foldable chair to sit on and take a selfie, moving from street to street in the area around the park.
“My idea was that I wouldn’t stand still unless the police stop me,” the artist, who gave his name as Tung, told AFP.
Leading up to the anniversary on Sunday, officials repeatedly refused to confirm if public Tiananmen mourning was illegal, only saying that “everyone should act in accordance with the law”.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Saturday that the Tiananmen Square victims’ “bravery will not be forgotten”, adding that the US would “continue advocating for people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms in China and around the world”.
Source: CNA
