HK keeps protesters at bay on 32nd Tiananmen anniversary

Prominent activist and vigil organiser Chow Hang Tung picked up by police

HONG KONG/TAIPEI: A Hong Kong park that traditionally hosts huge vigils on the anniversary of China’s deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown lay empty for the first time late on Friday as police blocked access, but flashes of defiance still flickered across the city.

Huge crowds have routinely gathered in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to mark the anniversary of Chinese troops crushing peaceful democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Hundreds were killed in the crackdown, by some estimates more than 1,000.

Public commemorations are forbidden on the mainland and, until recently, semi-autonomous Hong Kong was the one place in China where large scale remembrance was still tolerated.

This year’s vigil was banned at a time when authorities are carrying out a sweeping clampdown on dissent following huge and often violent democracy protests two years ago.

Police threw cordons around the Victoria Park, keeping crowds out and leaving the venue free of candle carrying mourners for the first time in 32 years. Activists who approached the park were stopped and searched, while officers used loud hailers and signs to call for people to disperse from nearby streets.

Earlier, police arrested Chow Hang Tung, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, for promoting an unauthorised assembly. “She only wanted to go to Victoria Park, light a candle and commemorate,” Chiu Yan Loy, executive member of the alliance, told Reuters.

Taiwan will never forget Tiananmen, says Tsai

Taiwan’s people will never forget the crackdown in Tiananmen Square, President Tsai Ing-wen said. Tsai said, “For all Taiwanese who are proud of their freedom and democracy, they will never forget about this day.”