Near the long lines of travelers lined up in front of the bus stops that line the sidewalks of Hennessy Road, a long and constantly congested suburb of the Causeway Bay district, in the heart of Hong Kong, a few black cardboard papers and white chalk stubs were discreetly placed at the foot of a building, in a small recyclable plastic box, available to passers-by… to allow them to draw candles. Drawn with more or less skill, these sketches are then taped or placed once morest the wall. In the adjacent streets, other boxes were placed without the knowledge of surveillance cameras.
While almost everything is prohibited in Hong Kong to mark the thirty-third anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, Saturday June 4, there are only gestures as innocent as a drawing of candlelight left to honor the unidentified and unrecognized dead of this dark episode in Chinese history.
Police in clusters
Earlier, not far from there, an old lady with long gray hair had dared to cross the street ostentatiously carrying a tiny candle, a heroic gesture in the new repressive context of Hong Kong. Similarly, carrying a white flower in hand or turning on the light on one’s phone at 8 p.m. triggered loud police warnings over loudspeakers. Because although Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive, has never explicitly said that it is forbidden to commemorate Tiananmen, only talking regarding the importance of respecting laws and norms of social distancing, the police, she had largely dissuaded the crowds.
In Hong Kong, participating in an illegal assembly is punishable by five years in prison
On the eve of the anniversary, she had indicated in particular that anyone, even alone, going to Causeway Bay on the outskirts of the large Victoria Park – historic and traditional place of commemoration vigils which over the years have brought together millions of Hong Kongers –, might be arrested for “unlawful assembly” if his intention was to join other people who came for the same purpose. In Hong Kong, participating in an illegal assembly is punishable by five years in prison.
Also, on Saturday, at the beginning of the evening in the streets of Causeway Bay, it is an almost ordinary day of shopping which seems to end at the foot of buildings covered with giant screens and neon lights. Only the police presence is quite exceptional. The police are there in clusters, in front of storefronts and on the corner of every block, in uniform and in civilian clothes.
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