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Thousands Attend Tiananmen Vigil in Hong Kong

04 June 2010 19:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents attended a candlelight vigil Friday to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989, in an unusually strong turnout that comes at a politically sensitive moment for this special administrative region of China, APA reports quoting â€œThe World Street Journalâ€.
Beijing and the rest of mainland China remained under tightened security.
Residents, packing a large Hong Kong park, held up candles, sang old protest songs and waved signs that read "Never Forget June Fourth, Give Us Democracy." During the vigil, residents chanted slogans calling for the release of Liu Xiaobo, a 1989 student activist and human-rights dissident sentenced last year to 11 years in prison by the Chinese government.
Organizers said 150,000 people attended the rally, while police put the number at 113,000.
Hong Kong, which operates under a different set of laws than the rest of the country, regularly commemorates the fallen Tiananmen protesters even as such activities are forbidden in mainland China. But in the run-up to the Tiananmen Square crackdown’s 21st anniversary, tensions have risen here over the complicated question of how to remember the incident.
Administrators at Chinese University of Hong Kong this week shot down a student plan to install on the campus a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue that became a symbol of the student protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The university defended the decision, saying the goal was to "maintain political neutrality."
But the decision stoked an even larger backlash, with the student union accusing university president Lawrence Lauâ€”a member of Hong Kong’s cabinet and a Beijing political bodyâ€”of bending to Beijing’s wishes. Students said that they planned to force their way onto campus with the statue on Friday night after the candlelight vigil, against the university’s wishes. The university said in a statement that it would do its best to avoid any "unpleasant incidents."
At Victoria Park on Friday evening, Hank Yau, a 24-year-old student at Chinese University, said he was attending his first vigil to support his fellow students’ cause. "When the incident happened, I wasn’t old enough to understand," he said, standing next to an eight-foot-tall replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue in the park. "I want to get a proper, fair understanding of what happened, without any preconceived notions."
Patrick Wong, who was a university student in Hong Kong in 1989, came with his wife and their two young children. While the crowdâ€”including his wife and childrenâ€”joined in singing commemorative songs, Mr. Wong kept a quiet vigil.
"I don’t shout, and I don’t sing," said the 40-year-old Mr. Wong. He explained that he came to the rally in order to remember those who died in Tiananmen Square. "My heart is with them," he said.
Friday’s candlelight vigil comes as Hong Kong’s own democratic protesters are battling with local authorities over what they see as slow progress on promised direct elections. Earlier this year, a number of opposition lawmakers staged a mass resignation. In recent weeks, Beijing’s top leaders in Hong Kong have engaged in rare meetings with more moderate democracy advocates in an effort to win support for a government-backed democracy plan. Hong Kong’s leader has also challenged a top opposition lawmaker to an unusual televised debate on democracy, slated for June 17.