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Hong Kong Marks 25th Anniversary of Tiananmen Killings Crowds Gather in Hong Kong to Mark 25th Anniversary of Tiananmen Killings
(about 2 hours later)
HONG KONG — Throngs began gathering late Wednesday afternoon at a downtown Hong Kong park fringed by skyscrapers to mark and to mourn the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. But in Beijing and elsewhere in mainland China, a stifling security presence on the streets and online appeared to forestall protests. HONG KONG — Tens of thousands gathered at a central Hong Kong park on Wednesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, even as a stifling security presence in Beijing and elsewhere in mainland China appeared to forestall protests.
The Chinese police have detained and in some cases prosecuted scores of human rights activists in recent weeks. Online censors have stepped up their already extensive blocking or deleting of websites and postings that contradict the Communist Party’s effort to erase the public’s memory of the bloodshed in 1989. In the years since the crackdown, mainland China has combined rapid economic growth with severe and recently increasing restrictions on civil liberties. In the weeks preceding the anniversary, the Chinese police detained and in some cases prosecuted scores of human rights activists.
State-controlled Chinese media organizations completely ignored the anniversary, even as foreign media gave it global attention. In Washington, the White House said in a statement, “Twenty-five years later, the United States continues to honor the memories of those who gave their lives in and around Tiananmen Square and throughout China, and we call on Chinese authorities to account for those killed, detained, or missing in connection with the events surrounding June 4, 1989.” Online censors have stepped up their already extensive blocking or deleting of websites and postings that contradict the Communist Party’s effort to erase the public’s memory of the bloodshed in 1989, when soldiers in Beijing killed hundreds of students, workers and professionals seeking greater democracy and limits on corruption.
Average economic output per person, adjusted for inflation, has soared nearly 20-fold in China since the Tiananmen killings, turning the country into the world’s largest market for everything from cars to flat-panel televisions. But the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo remains in prison for seeking greater political freedom, while the state has developed an enormously sophisticated and far-flung surveillance system using everything from face-recognition computer technology to extensive tracking of cellphone locations. State-controlled Chinese media organizations largely ignored the anniversary, even as the foreign news media gave it global attention. In Washington, the White House said in a statement, “Twenty-five years later, the United States continues to honor the memories of those who gave their lives in and around Tiananmen Square and throughout China, and we call on Chinese authorities to account for those killed, detained, or missing in connection with the events surrounding June 4, 1989.”
“China’s economy has developed rapidly, but on the issues of democracy and personal freedom, its record is very, very, very bad,” said Kwok Yin-cheong, a 40-year-old graphic designer who attends the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong every year and was among the first to arrive on Wednesday afternoon. The Hong Kong vigil’s organizers said that the crowd Wednesday was “over 180,000,” while the police estimated that 99,500 had attended. Last year, organizers estimated the crowd to be 150,000, while the police said 54,000 attended.
The silence about the anniversary that security agencies imposed in mainland China left Hong Kong as the only city on Chinese soil where the Communist Party has been unable to prevent protests. People poured out of subway exits and nearby shopping districts to pick up white candles and head for a row of six concrete soccer fields in Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island to commemorate an event widely seen as a turning point in contemporary Chinese history. Wednesday night’s gathering was visibly younger than in previous years and included, for the first time, Cardinal Joseph Zen, a widely admired Roman Catholic who in the past had held prayers near the commemoration but not taken part.
The mourners marked the day in 1989 when soldiers in Beijing killed hundreds of students, workers and professionals seeking greater democracy and limits on corruption. But Hong Kong, a possible signpost for what political discourse might look like in a less repressive China, has become deeply divided in the quarter-century since the crackdown, as mainland China has combined rapid economic growth with severe and recently increasing restrictions on civil liberties. In recent years, the Victora Park gathering had been dominated by people age 40 or above who remembered television coverage of the night of the crackdown and who sometimes brought their children. That demographic profile appeared to have been upended this year as people in their 20s and 30s predominated. An announcer on the stage asked everyone attending the vigil for the first time to raise their hands, and many hands sprung up across the sea of people.
One first-time attendee, Rex Liu, a 27-year-old office worker, said that although he felt regret that students had died 25 years ago, he was motivated more by concern about the prevalence of corruption in current-day China. “In previous years I have had no particular desire to attend, and I am not here now because it is the 25th anniversary,” he said. “I feel the need to come this year to express my discontent over the rotting and corrupt state of the Chinese government.”
The general silence about the anniversary that security agencies imposed in mainland China left Hong Kong as the only city on Chinese soil where such a public commemoration can take place.
Kwok Yin-cheong, a 40-year-old graphic designer who attends the Hong Kong vigil every year and was among the first to arrive on Wednesday afternoon, said that “China’s economy has developed rapidly, but on the issues of democracy and personal freedom, its record is very, very, very bad.”
Asked during a brief interview near the end of the vigil whether he was attending the event as a church leader, Cardinal Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong and a longtime advocate of greater democracy, gave a small shrug and a short, amused laugh. “No, no, no, I am myself,” he said.
Martin Lee, the founder of the city’s Democratic Party and a devout Catholic, was standing next to the cardinal and interjected that the prelate was attending the vigil as “the conscience of the Catholic Church.”
Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, published an article on Wednesday quoting a government spokesman hitting back at the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, who had called on Tuesday for Beijing to release pro-democracy activists and others who have been detained.
“The so-called press release made by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay grossly goes against her mandate and constitutes a grave intervention of China’s judicial sovereignty and internal affairs,” Hong Lei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a daily news briefing, according to the Xinhua report. “China is strongly opposed to that.”
“China has chosen a viable path to develop human rights, and this is not to be changed by any discordant voice,” he added.
Among those who had assembled around Victoria Park was one man who held up a sign defending the armed crackdown. His Chinese-language sign read: “Oppose overturning the verdict on June 4; the democracy movement is a menace to national tranquillity. Without a prompt crackdown, China would not be what it is today.”
The man, Chiu Keng Wong, a Hong Kong resident and camera dealer, said he was in China in 1989.
“People don’t understand the situation back then,” he said. “This had to be done to defend reform and opening up. Older people who have spent time in China understand my view.”
Several groups in Hong Kong allied to the mainland Chinese government have tried to make the case that dwelling on June 4 is politically unhealthy, and one of them, the Voice of Loving Hong Kong, held a small gathering near Victoria Park. Guarded by a phalanx of police officers and metal barriers, the group had a banner urging the people of Hong Kong to “let go of this burden.”
Before Wednesday’s vigil began, pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers predicted that mostly clear skies would help bring out bigger crowds than last year, when torrential downpours depressed the turnout. But they sought to limit expectations for a very large crowd, noting deep divisions that have emerged within their own ranks in recent years.Before Wednesday’s vigil began, pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers predicted that mostly clear skies would help bring out bigger crowds than last year, when torrential downpours depressed the turnout. But they sought to limit expectations for a very large crowd, noting deep divisions that have emerged within their own ranks in recent years.
“What the Communist Party couldn’t do over the last 20-some years, we’ve been able to do on our own — it’s pretty pathetic if you ask me,” said Ronny Tong, a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council from the pro-democracy Civic Party.“What the Communist Party couldn’t do over the last 20-some years, we’ve been able to do on our own — it’s pretty pathetic if you ask me,” said Ronny Tong, a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council from the pro-democracy Civic Party.
The democracy movement in Hong Kong has splintered over how to deal with Beijing’s steadfast refusal to change its official stance on the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and over Beijing’s reluctance to allow greater democracy in Hong Kong itself. The clearest sign of that division was a separate protest being organized on Wednesday evening on the opposite side of the harbor from the Victoria Park candlelight vigil, which has been held every year since 1989. The democracy movement in Hong Kong has fractured over how to deal with Beijing’s steadfast refusal to change its official stance on the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and over Beijing’s reluctance to allow greater democracy in Hong Kong itself. The clearest sign of that division was a separate protest on Wednesday evening on the opposite side of the harbor from the Victoria Park candlelight vigil, which has been held every year since 1989.
The rival event was organized by the Proletariat Political Institute, a group led by Wong Yuk-man, a democracy activist who is also a member of the 70-person Legislative Council, and who contends that the established pro-democracy parties are not sufficiently assertive in challenging Beijing. The rival event, which the police said attracted 3,060 people, was organized by the Proletariat Political Institute, a group led by Wong Yuk-man, a democracy activist who is also a member of the 70-person Legislative Council. He contends that the established pro-democracy parties are not sufficiently assertive in challenging Beijing.
“The vigil has been held for more than two decades, and the significance of the vigil is diminishing,” Mr. Wong’s group said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “It is now no more than a routine ceremonial event.”“The vigil has been held for more than two decades, and the significance of the vigil is diminishing,” Mr. Wong’s group said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “It is now no more than a routine ceremonial event.”
The Victoria Park vigil suffered another setback when organizers said late Wednesday afternoon that the event’s website had been disabled by malicious hacking. Richard Tsoi, a vice chairman of the vigil’s organizing committee, said that the site had come under periodic attack since the spring and had been completely disabled on Wednesday, adding that “it is a reasonable suspicion that the attack came from the mainland authorities.”The Victoria Park vigil suffered another setback when organizers said late Wednesday afternoon that the event’s website had been disabled by malicious hacking. Richard Tsoi, a vice chairman of the vigil’s organizing committee, said that the site had come under periodic attack since the spring and had been completely disabled on Wednesday, adding that “it is a reasonable suspicion that the attack came from the mainland authorities.”
Interest in the vigil was fanned this year by a continuing political struggle in Hong Kong over whether Beijing will allow universal suffrage in the 2017 election to choose the next chief executive of the somewhat autonomous territory. Hong Kong has maintained its own legal and economic system ever since Britain returned it to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.Interest in the vigil was fanned this year by a continuing political struggle in Hong Kong over whether Beijing will allow universal suffrage in the 2017 election to choose the next chief executive of the somewhat autonomous territory. Hong Kong has maintained its own legal and economic system ever since Britain returned it to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Just 1,200 members of an electoral committee are currently allowed to choose the chief executive, and the complex selection process for the committee members ensures that the body is dominated by pro-Beijing businesspeople. Yet polls consistently show that a majority of Hong Kong’s population favors the introduction of universal suffrage — although that majority has shrunk slightly over the years as the mainland Chinese economy has grown much faster than Hong Kong’s.Just 1,200 members of an electoral committee are currently allowed to choose the chief executive, and the complex selection process for the committee members ensures that the body is dominated by pro-Beijing businesspeople. Yet polls consistently show that a majority of Hong Kong’s population favors the introduction of universal suffrage — although that majority has shrunk slightly over the years as the mainland Chinese economy has grown much faster than Hong Kong’s.
Beijing officials have indicated that they will approve giving the vote to all Hong Kong adults only if a nomination committee tightly controlled by Beijing loyalists is allowed to dictate whose names will appear on the ballot. Democracy groups have splintered in offering a wide range of alternative plans, which vary according to the extent to which the general public would be allowed to influence the nomination of candidates.Beijing officials have indicated that they will approve giving the vote to all Hong Kong adults only if a nomination committee tightly controlled by Beijing loyalists is allowed to dictate whose names will appear on the ballot. Democracy groups have splintered in offering a wide range of alternative plans, which vary according to the extent to which the general public would be allowed to influence the nomination of candidates.
But while critics of the Tiananmen Square crackdown may be deeply divided in Hong Kong, and while some informal surveys have suggested that the Communist Party may be having some success in preventing the young on the mainland from learning about the incident at all, there are signs that memories of the event are enduring in surprising ways. As the Wednesday vigil got underway, organizers carried a refrigerator-size wreath of flowers to a statue in the center of the crowd that resembled the “Goddess of Democracy” figure that students erected in the middle of Tiananmen Square near the end of their protests in the spring of 1989. Cardinal Zen held his candle aloft and joined the crowd in following Chinese funeral tradition by bowing three times as the wreath approached the statue and three times after the wreath had been deposited and organizers backed away.
In Hong Kong, the crowds attending the annual candlelight vigil seem to be getting younger each year. A public opinion survey released on Tuesday by Hong Kong University found that support for the students who struggled and in some cases died for their beliefs in Beijing a quarter-century ago is strongest by far among those under the age of 30 in Hong Kong, who are too young to have been aware of the killings when they happened.
Young people in Hong Kong face worse job prospects than previous generations did at the same age, even though they are often better educated, as many businesses in Hong Kong have struggled to stay competitive with mainland rivals. The city’s young people have become increasingly willing to join street protests to call for greater democracy here and on the mainland and for renewed attention to what happened in the streets of Beijing in 1989.
Sentiment among the young here could be a warning sign for Beijing, which has expanded its annual number of college graduates fivefold since 2000 and now faces widespread joblessness among its recent graduates, in an economy that still emphasizes blue-collar jobs in manufacturing and construction.
Rising interest in Tiananmen Square among Hong Kong’s young “is quite peculiar and unexpected,” said Kwok Ka-ki, a pro-democracy Civic Party member of the Hong Kong legislature. “Instead of less concerned, they are becoming more concerned.”