HK marks Tiananmen crackdown
Hong Kong, June 4: Thousands gathered at a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on Sunday to mark 28 years since China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown but the annual event is struggling for support.
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil to see a major commemoration of the military’s brutal crushing of pro-democracy protests in central Beijing in 1989.
But in the past two years, student unions have boycotted the Victoria Park vigil, saying its message is increasingly irrelevant.
Organised by veteran democracy activists, the vigil demands justice for the victims and pushes for China’s democratisation.
Some young activists in Hong Kong say they want to prioritise the democratic future of the city itself and not China as a whole, as anti-Beijing sentiment grows. Younger generations tend to see themselves as distant from mainland China, with some calling for more autonomy or even independence after mass rallies for political reform in 2014 failed to win concessions.
Mak Kwan-wai, vice president of Hong Kong Baptist University’s student union, said building a democratic system in China was not Hong Kongers’ responsibility. “What Hong Kongers should do is protect themselves.”
However, democracy campaigner Joshua Wong, who led the 2014 prodemocracy rallies, said people should not forget the June 4 victims. “We all share the same goal, to demand the central government take responsibility for the massacre.”