Hong Kong residents wishing to mark the 33rd anniversary of the bloody raid on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen) this Saturday have had to do so in secret or privately after authorities warned they would not tolerate it.
For 33 years, Chinese authorities have tried their best to erase these events from the collective memory: history books do not mention them and comments on the networks are systematically censored.
Image: PETER PARKS/AFP
On June 4, 1989, the regime sent tanks and troops to suppress the peaceful protesters who occupied the iconic Tiananmen Square for weeks demanding political change and an end to systemic corruption.
The repression resulted in hundreds (some estimates may be more than a thousand) deaths.
This Saturday in Beijing, Tiananmen woke up under tight security, with facial recognition devices on the surrounding streets and random checks on passers-by who were asked to identify themselves.
Talking about the 1989 events in China is taboo. And now so does Hong Kong, a former British colony that has enjoyed certain freedoms and autonomy since its return to Beijing in 1997.
Image: PHILIP FONG/AFP
In Hong Kong, the massacre was commemorated annually until Beijing passed a national security law in 2020 to silence dissidents.
Since the massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, Hong Kong authorities have been trying to erase the memory of the massacre, banning vigils in 2020 and 2021 under the guise of epidemics, and removing statues from their universities.
Last year, the Hong Kong Alliance, the organization that organized the vigils, was dissolved, its museum was closed, and its organizers were arrested.
This year, police warned that any “unauthorized gathering” would be deemed illegal and closed Victoria Park, where tens of thousands of people gather for a vigil every 4 June.
fasting in jail
No events are planned for this year, even traditional Catholic services formerly held in churches have been canceled for fear of possible reprisal.
Only three street performers dared to put on small performances with subtle references to Tiananmen, near Victoria Park, on Friday night.
According to an AFP reporter, a woman was taken by police after she tried to turn the potato into candles and light it.
An AFP reporter saw a man in a black T-shirt being detained and taken to a police van.
Also, a former leader of the Hong Kong Alliance was surrounded and searched by police as he walked through the neighborhood around Victoria Park with a bouquet of red and white roses in his hand.
A Hong Kong resident told AFP she lit a candle in her home and placed a copy of the “Goddess of Democracy”, a symbol of the Tiananmen movement, next to a window.
Former Alliance leader Lee Cheuk-yan announced that he would fast, light matches, and sing songs from his prison cell.
“I believe that Hong Kongers will join me in remembering June 4 with all sincerity, using their own means to express their commitment to democracy,” he said in a letter posted online.
“The memory of June 4 is being systematically erased in Hong Kong,” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said, but said that “such brute measures cannot erase people’s memory.”
US diplomacy chief Antony Blinken paid tribute to the “brave” 1989 protesters who “peacefully demanded democracy” in China.
Several Western consulates in Hong Kong posted messages about Tiananmen on social media.
The United States has put the “Pillar of Shame” as the cover photo of its Facebook page.
In response, the European Union office confirmed to AFP the information developed by local media in Hong Kong as Chinese authorities demanded that consulates refrain from mentioning the historic event.
source: Noticias
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