Highlights: In China, a leaden silence still reigns over the commemorations of the events of Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Censorship ensures that nothing can evoke the memory of these tragic events on the media and social networks also in Hong Kong. "I don't think the authorities can completely erase the collective memory. Because this is an important moment for so many Chinese who do not forget the June 4," he said. "Many Chinese, especially among the youth, do not know today what happened in 1989," he added.

In China, a leaden silence still reigns over the commemorations of the events of Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Censorship ensures that nothing can evoke the memory of these events...

Tiananmen massacre anniversary again marked by censorship

In China, a leaden silence still reigns over the commemorations of the events of Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Censorship ensures that nothing can evoke the memory of these tragic events on the media and social networks. Silence also in Hong Kong, where several arrests continue to take place in the Causeway Bay district, where the population used to mark the date since 1989 with a candlelight vigil.

Police officers in Tiananmen Square, June 4, 2023. AFP - HECTOR RETAMAL

Text by: RFI Follow

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The pixelated candle lit by the German embassy in China on its Weibo account on Sunday, June 4 did not last long. Like the other candles of remembrance posted online, the latter was immediately extinguished by the censors who ensure that no reference to the events of Tiananmen, or even to the date of June 4 - renamed "May 35" by the Chinese opposition - can resurface; going so far as to remove the candle emoticon on the web or making it difficult to access without a VPN the Wikipedia notes on the event. This as every year on the same date, reports our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde.

But for lawyer Teng Biao contacted by RFI, 34 years of forced collective amnesia have not completely erased the memory of "May 35": "The Chinese government has strengthened censorship and its propaganda efforts. Many Chinese, especially among the youth, do not know today what happened in 1989. They also don't know what happened in Hong Kong, Tibet, or Xinjiang. But I don't think the authorities can completely erase the collective memory. Because this is an important moment for so many Chinese who do not forget the Tiananmen massacre," he said.

Candles extinguished by censors on the Weibo account of the German Embassy in China. The memory of the June 4, 1989 movement is still banned nearly 35 years after the fact. https://t.co/8DpaHakj2W

— Stéphane Lagarde (@StephaneLagarde) June 4, 2023

Some put their freedom on the line to recall this memory every year, continues the lawyer in exile in the United States. Over the past three decades, witnesses of the time, human rights activists, journalists and the Tiananmen mothers have published their memories and accounts of those tragic times. Some were sent to prison for this, but the memory is still there.

Call for responsibility of victims' mothers

The collective of mothers of victims has again called on Chinese leaders to admit their responsibility in the repression of the protest movement that had shaken several major cities in China, beyond Beijing. Detained dissidents such as Xu Zhiyong have again called for a hunger strike or at least a day of fasting on June 4 to mark this memory.

But beyond individual acts, no public demonstration is possible. The censorship ensures that no promotion takes place online this weekend to avoid last year's happening: a tank-shaped cake, reminiscentof those in Tiananmen Square, appeared live in the show of a famous influencer.

No historical vigil in Hong Kong, police watch for the slightest allusion to June 4, 1989

On the Hong Kong side, silence also reigns, especially in the Causeway Bay district. Every year since 1989, the population had become accustomed to marking the memory of the massacre with a candlelight vigil. Banned for the first time in 2020, officially due to Covid-19, the gathering was also prevented in 2021, 2022 and now in 2023 as well. The city now lives more and more to the rhythm of other Chinese provinces since the imposition of the national security law.

At the Hennessy Road junction in Causeway Bay, police shouted "Move around, there's nothing to see," before slamming the door of the van on a middle-aged man who had a small sign evoking June 4, reports our Hong Kong correspondent, Florence de Changy.

A few minutes later, it was the turn of Mamie Wong - a figure of the pro-democracy movement - to be boarded. Earlier a woman holding a candle symbol of June 4 just had time to shout "wave candles, cry on June 4" before being taken away. Another woman, who simply wore the Chinese characters meaning "conscience" on her T-shirt, was also picked up by police.

Hong Kong police arrest a passerby after he simply turned on his cell phone light near VIctoria Park, the site where events in memory of the Ananmen massacre took place for 30 years, here on June 4, 2023 in Hong Kong. © Louise Delmotte / AP

Several arrests also took place on Saturday, June 3 in this neighborhood, where 5,000 police officers were mobilized on this symbolic date for the pro-democracy opposition. The pillars of the latter are almost all in prison. Lawyer Chow Hang Tung, former vice president of the Alliance, who held the vigils every year, is currently in prison and has begun a hunger strike.

Hoping to create a diversion, the authorities allowed the holding of a carnival of culinary specialties from the provinces of China with very kitsch shows in folk dress of Chinese minorities. In an attempt that the noise of this cheap folklore makes forget the 4th of June.

>> READ ALSO: Hong Kong: the organizers of a vigil for Tiananmen sentenced to four and a half months in prison

Taiwan holds vigil, with Beijing's possible invasion on everyone's mind

In Taiwan, the last Chinese-speaking country to hold events in memory of the Tiananmen Square massacres, a citizens' collective organized a vigil in central Taipei on Sunday, June 4. Also in the presence of Hong Kong refugee activists.

With our correspondent in Taipei, Adrien Simorre

A minute of silence for the victims of Tiananmen: on the Freedom Square of Taipei, they are several hundred to have moved despite the rain. Among them, this Taiwanese father, who came with his son: "I would like him to understand that freedom and democracy are not free, that they have a price and that we all have a responsibility to defend them.

Around the square, human rights defenders from Tibet and Hong Kong set up their stalls. Like Elaine, a Hong Kong activist who took refuge in Taiwan: she exhibits the drawings of her friends now in prison. In Hong Kong, these commemorations can no longer be held, she explains. On Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June, people were even arrested for this. It was important for me to be here to show that we continue to fight with them.

A democratic and de facto independent archipelago, Taiwan remains threatened with invasion by Beijing. This year, the organizers even received anonymous intimidation." A few days ago, Taiwanese intelligence called us to tell us to be especially careful, said Zeng Jian-Yuan, organizer of the event. But everything was done to ensure the safety of the event, and protect freedom of expression in Taiwan.

The evening finally ended without a hitch, and with an appointment given for next year.

Taiwan holds vigil in memory of Tiananmen massacres and fears of invasion by Beijing

Tiananmen massacre anniversary again marked by censorship

Tiananmen massacre anniversary again marked by censorship

Call for responsibility of victims' mothers

No historical vigil in Hong Kong, police watch for the slightest allusion to June 4, 1989

Taiwan holds vigil, with Beijing's possible invasion on everyone's mind

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