‘Not just about Tiananmen but also 2019’: Hongkongers defying June 4 vigil ban say they are beaten but unbowed
- Threat of national security law hangs over city as residents gather in small groups to remember events in Beijing in 1989
- Some people wear black, others chant slogans, or attend mass as way to commemorate 32nd anniversary of crackdown in which hundreds died
Maria Cheung* had never been to the annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park to remember the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, believing she could always go to the next one.
But on Friday night, she decided it was time to act. After finishing work at 6pm, the fifty-something clerk left her office in Cheung Sha Wan and hopped onto the MTR to head straight to Causeway Bay, clutching a white candle in one hand.
“I used to take things for granted, but now I realise it is important to make a stand,” she said.
Friday evening marked the second time in two years police had banned the annual gathering on public health grounds because of the coronavirus pandemic.
This time, though, there was also the threat of the national security law, as Hongkongers wondered if they risked arrest if they shouted slogans that could be construed as subverting state power, or undermining national sovereignty, or for just showing up and wearing black, the colour of protest.
Despite the risks, Cheung felt she had to show up to mourn those who died in Beijing, as tanks rolled into the capital on June 4, 1989, to crush a student-led movement that had been fighting for democracy and an end to corruption. Hundreds, possibly more, died in the confrontation.