Hong Kong protesters defy police for Tiananmen vigil
HONG KONG — What was supposed to be a banned event commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre instead became one of Hong Kong’s most unifying vigils in 31 years, as the old themes of accountability for massacre victims merged with new demands for democracy and autonomy in the city.
Police had banned the annual vigil — which usually draws more than 100,000 people to mourn the pro-democracy protesters killed by soldiers and tanks in Beijing on June 4, 1989 — on grounds of public health, citing coronavirus concerns. They set up metal barricades around Victoria Park and mobilized 3,000 riot police to guard the city Thursday night.
Anxiety was in the air, with new national security legislation issued by fiat in Beijing last week looming over the city and a law criminalizing disrespect for the Chinese national anthem passed in the Hong Kong legislature Thursday afternoon over the objections of pro-democracy legislators. But when dusk fell, fears seemed to melt away as thousands of people streamed into Victoria Park, pushing the barricades over and turning them into benches, lighting candles and lifting cellphones alight with candle images as they sang prodemocracy songs in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Similar scenes sprouted in other parts of the city at the same time, with hundreds of people lighting candles in parks, outside subway stations, on the streets and along the harbor in defiance of police orders.
“You can’t run away,” said a 23-year-old student who gave only his last name, Lau, and who was taking part in his first Tiananmen commemoration. “If you don’t come out now, you might not be able to come out ever again.”
When the vigil was banned earlier this week, organizers called for “flowers blossoming everywhere,” a Chinese metaphor for a good thing spreading with no need of a leader. The number of people participating Thursday appeared to be fewer than in previous years, but they were spread around the city and seemed self-organized and more spontaneous than before.