Bans on Tiananmen commemoration banned in Hong Kong

31 years ago, on the night of June 3 to 4, 1989, the Chinese army and its tanks took over Tiananmen Square, the epicenter of unprecedented student demonstrations, in the heart of Beijing. The army shoots at the crowd while the movement is suppressed throughout the country. The repression caused between several hundred and more than a thousand deaths and ended seven weeks of demonstrations by students and workers who denounced corruption and demanded democracy.

Since then, every year in Hong Kong, huge crowds commemorate the bloody intervention of the Chinese army. The autonomous territory, in the lap of Beijing since 1997, is the only place in China where you can mark the event, which has become taboo for Beijing. An AFP photographer was even arrested by police on Thursday morning, who forced him to erase most of his photos while driving near Tiananmen Square.

But for the first time in three decades, the vigil in Hong Kong was not authorized by the police this year. She cited the risks associated with Covid-19, as gatherings of more than eight people remained prohibited. In exchange, the organizers called on residents to light candles at 8 p.m. local time (12 p.m. GMT) where they are.

"White candles are expected to be distributed in about 100 to 200 points in Hong Kong," said Chiu Yan-loy, district elected official and member of the Hong Kong Alliance association, traditional organizer of the vigil.

An important commemoration in the context of tension with Beijing 

Vigils usually attract crowds of Hong Kongers, especially when relations with Beijing are degraded. Last year, the 30th anniversary vigil had already taken place in a tense political context: the pro-Beijing Hong Kong executive was trying to impose authorization for extraditions to mainland China. A week later, seven months of almost daily demonstrations began in the financial metropolis.

In response to this movement, Beijing announced in late May its intention to impose a national security law on Hong Kong, which plans to punish separatist, "terrorist" activities, subversion, and foreign interference in the territory. 

>> China: Tiananmen, the forbidden memory

In mainland China, no public commemoration is possible: the media remain silent, the censors erase all mention on the Internet and the police closely monitor the dissidents before the fateful date of June 4. Proof of the subject's extreme sensitivity, even candle emojis have been made unavailable on the popular Chinese social network Weibo.

Washington calls on Beijing to report on massacre 

The United States has praised the memory of the victims, as it does every year. American Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo met four figures from the movement on Wednesday in Washington, including one of the main student leaders at the time, Wang Dan.

Washington called on Beijing to provide "a full picture" of the massacre, the anniversary of which telescopes this year in American news: President Donald Trump has threatened to call on the army to put an end to the outbursts observed across the country on the sidelines of protests against racism and police violence.

Asked about the crackdown, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the Chinese authorities had "already reached a clear conclusion on the political unrest that occurred in the late 1980s". 

"The great achievements of New China in the past 70 years have fully demonstrated that the path of development chosen by China is entirely correct," said Zhao Lijian.

With AFP 

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app