2023-06-04 11:52:51
Hong Kong police on Sunday arrested a prominent figure in the pro-democracy movement and at least 7 others on the 34th anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
This weekend, the police took up position in force in Victoria Park and its surroundings to question anyone suspected of taking part in any form of public commemoration of the events of June 4, 1989.
Pro-democracy activist Alexandra Wong in 2021 in Hong Kong. [Jérôme Favre – EPA – Keystone]
The police first surrounded her, then Alexandra Wong followed them without resisting, brandishing her bouquet of flowers in the air.
On the eve of the 34th anniversary of Tiananmen, Hong Kong police had already arrested four people for “disorderly conduct on public roads” and for “acts for seditious purposes”, and four others for “disturbing public order”.
The city’s chief executive, John Lee, has warned that every Hong Kong resident should obey the law and be “prepared to face the consequences” if they violate it.
>> Listen to the 12:30 p.m. report from RTS in Hong Kong schools:
For more than 30 years, tens of thousands of people have gathered each year in Victoria Park in Hong Kong for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of Beijing’s Tiananmen.
But in 2020 Beijing imposed a national security law in the former British colony to muzzle any dissent following the gigantic pro-democracy demonstrations of 2019.
Hong Kong authorities have since ended vigils that were never allowed in mainland China.
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.
>> Read once more: What happens to pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong?
Trade fair
This year, the giant park gathering in the central Causeway Bay district has been replaced by a trade fair devoted to products from mainland China and organized until Monday by pro-Beijing groups to celebrate the 26th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China. This year, pro-Beijing groups held a trade fair in Victoria Park to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China. [Bertha Wang – EPA – Keystone]
Hong Kong, returned to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, was thus for a long time the only Chinese city to organize a candlelight vigil in memory of Tiananmen.
It was also a key indicator of the freedoms and political pluralism conferred on it by its status as a semi-autonomous territory.
Erase the memory
In mainland China, all traces of the Tiananmen events have been erased by the authorities. History textbooks do not mention it, online discussions on this subject are systematically censored.
Witness the misadventure of the British Embassy in Beijing, which posted on social media on Sunday a front page dated June 4, 1989 of “People’s Daily”, the official propaganda organ of the Chinese Communist Party, which described the influx of injured in hospitals as a result of the crackdown.
“Within twenty minutes, censors deleted our Weibo (Chinese social media) post,” the British Embassy tweeted on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the world, June 4 commemorations will take place in Japan, Sydney, New York and London where a re-enactment of the Tiananmen events will be held in Trafalgar Square.
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