This Sunday, June 4, 23 people, aged 20 to 74, mainly figures of the pro-democracy movement, were arrested by Hong Kong police, on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Tian'anmen Square. in Beijing. They are accused of having "disturbed the peace". Police moved into force this weekend in and around Victoria Park to intercept anyone suspected of participating in any form of public commemoration of the events of June 4, 1989.
For more than 30 years, tens of thousands of people have gathered at this park each year for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of Tian'anmen. But in 2020, Beijing imposed a national security law in the former British colony to muzzle any dissent after massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
On Sunday, the head of the opposition League of Social Democrats, Chan Po-ying, held a small LED candle, a prop often used at vigils commemorating June 4, 1989, and two flowers. The police immediately arrested her before boarding her in a van. Her party said she was released two hours later.
Alexandra Wong, a 67-year-old pro-democracy activist, was also arrested while holding up a bouquet of flowers in tribute to the victims of the 1989 crackdown, as was the journalist and former president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association , Mak Yin-ting. Another woman was arrested after she shouted "Blow up candles!" Cry 4/6! ".
Dressed in black, a young man was carrying a book titled "May 35" at the time of his arrest, another way of referring to the Tiananmen events that took place four days after May 31.
After being briefly interrogated, searched and then released, one woman said with a shrug, "Everyone knows what day it is today. »
On Saturday, Hong Kong police had already arrested four people for "disorderly conduct on public roads" and "acts for seditious purposes", and four others for "disturbing public order".
Hong Kong has long been the only Chinese city to hold a candlelight vigil in memory of Tian'anmen, which was a key indicator of the freedoms and political pluralism conferred on it by its status as a semi-autonomous territory.
In mainland China, all traces of the Tian'anmen events have been erased by the authorities. History textbooks do not mention it and online discussions on this subject are systematically censored.
This year, Chinese police also monitored several landmarks of the rare anti-Xi Jinping regime that erupted last fall. A large police force was deployed around the Sitong Bridge in Beijing, the scene of a demonstration at the end of November where a banner demanding more freedom had been unrolled.
In Hong Kong, most of the figures of the pro-democracy movement have been arrested or have taken refuge abroad since the entry into force of the law on national security. This is the case of the leaders of the association which organized the vigil of Victoria Park, Hongkong Alliance.
However, the authorities are still on high alert in the face of possible expressions of dissent. Sunday evening, at nightfall, dozens of candles were visible behind the windows of the American consulate in Hong Kong.
Commemorations were also planned in Japan, Sydney and New York. In Taiwan, about 500 people gathered in Taipei's Freedom Square in the evening, chanting "Let's fight for freedom, let's support Hong Kong". They set out candles drawing in the night the number 8964, a symbol of June 4, 1989. "We must cherish the freedom and democracy that we have in Taiwan," said Perry Wu, 31.
In London, around 200 people attended a satirical reenactment of the Tiananmen events, with women dressed in white representing the "Statue of Liberty" erected in 1989 by the students. The demonstrators, most of whom were from Hong Kong, then marched to the Chinese Embassy. Among them, a 59-year-old poet from Sichuan (southwest China) says his family fled the country immediately after the events of 1989. "The Chinese of my generation know what happened. past, but the younger ones, not really," says the man, who doesn't want to give his name, adding, "So their parents, their grandparents have to keep that memory alive. »
