HONG KONG: Hong Kong has beefed up security around a park Sunday where tens of thousands of people were expected to show up for an annual memorial of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown in China some 34 years ago.
In past years, Hong Kongers would gather on Victoria Park and its surrounding Causeway Bay neighbourhood to remember the events of June 4, 1989, taking part in a candlelight vigil and watching live performances about the bloody incident.
However, a day after four individuals were detained for “seditious” activities and “disorderly conduct,” the park will hold a “hometown funfair” this weekend that is sponsored by pro-Beijing organisations, with dozens of police officers stationed in the nearby commercial district.
On Saturday, Causeway Bay shoppers were inspected by police, who also promptly escorted protestors and performers out of the area. Additionally, four persons were held on suspicion of “breaching the peace.”
AFP saw artist Sanmu Chen chant, “Don’t forget June 4!” before he was whisked away in a police bus.
Commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown is prohibited on the mainland China because the communist regime of China finds discussion of it to be extremely sensitive.
The government violently crushed a weeks-long wave of protests demanding political reform 34 years ago when it dispatched troops and tanks to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to quell peaceful rallies.
During the crackdown, hundreds, and even more, according to some estimates, were slain.
As the only Chinese city to commemorate the tragedy on such a huge scale for many years, Hong Kong served as a crucial barometer of the freedoms and political plurality afforded by its semi-autonomous status.
However, the Victoria Park vigil has been forbidden since 2020, when Beijing passed a comprehensive national security law to stifle dissent in the wake of sizable and occasionally violent pro-democracy demonstrations.
When questioned about the vigil, 53-year-old Wong, who only gave her last name, said sge loved the fair’s atmosphere in Victoria Park. When asked about the Tiananmen Square crackdown, she said it was “a thing of the past.”
“Hong Kong has changed now.”
Erase memories
The Chinese government has taken extreme measures to remove the incident from people’s memories.
The internet in China has been completely cleaned of all references to the crackdown.
Additionally, this year, officials in Beijing targeted a bridge that had previously hosted a rare demonstration — in October, a protester had unfurled a banner on Sitong Bridge asking for “freedom” — last year.
Over the weekend, security surrounding the bridge was increased, the road sign was removed, and directions on map applications were inoperable.
Since the security law’s passage in 2020, the most well-known democracy activists in Hong Kong have either left the city for another country or have been imprisoned.
The city’s officials did, however, seem to maintain their vigilance in the weeks preceding Sunday.
A private showing of a documentary unconnected to the Tiananmen crackdown was cancelled, publications associated with the crackdown were taken out of the city’s public libraries, and the police took a memorial “Pillar of Shame” monument for a security investigation.
Hong Kong officials sidestepped questions about whether the public mourning was allowed.
Hong Kong’s leader John Lee maintained that the public must act according to the law or “be ready to face the consequences”.
Vigils will be held worldwide, from Japan and Sydney to New York and London, where a re-enactment of the crackdown will occur at Trafalgar Square on Sunday.
The play “35th of May” will be performed in Taiwan’s capital’s Shinehouse Theatre, which is a codename for the day.
The secretary-general of the Taiwan-based NGO Hong Kong Outlanders, Sky Fung, a Hong Kong native, said, “The history and the memory will not be wiped out easily.”
“I think the flame is still burning in our hearts.”
