Security Tightened Around Tiananmen Square
Small-Scale Memorial Gatherings in Hong Kong Also Result in Arrests
On the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in China, June 4th, no memorial events or gatherings took place in Beijing. Instead, security and inspections around Tiananmen Square were intensified, and in Hong Kong, opposition figures and democracy activists participating in memorial events were repeatedly arrested and detained.
According to local sources on the 5th, no gatherings or protests, including memorials for the pro-democracy protests, were held at Tiananmen Square the previous day. Police vehicles were stationed throughout the area, and all citizens walking or cycling near the square were required to show identification as security measures were tightened. While normally entry to the square requires a reservation and ID check, on this day the scope and intensity of control were increased. Around June 4th, there were no media reports mentioning the pro-democracy protests. Searching the largest Chinese portal Baidu with the keyword 'Tiananmen June 4' only yields a message stating 'No related web pages exist.'
The Tiananmen pro-democracy protests were a sit-in demonstration led by students, workers, and citizens at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, which was violently suppressed by government authorities, resulting in numerous casualties. The exact number of victims remains unknown. Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing on the 1st that regarding international human rights organizations' demands for the Chinese government to acknowledge responsibility for the massacre and apologize to the victims' families, "This matter has long been settled with an official stance," emphasizing, "We have consistently opposed such organizations interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights issues."
In Hong Kong, where annual memorial events were held until 2019 following the incident, authorities have imposed controls including the detention of related persons, significantly reducing the scale of protests. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), 24 participants in a candlelight vigil commemorating the Tiananmen pro-democracy protest victims were detained by Hong Kong police the previous day. Prior to this, Chris Tang, Commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force, warned that "firm measures will be taken against those threatening national security," and on the day, about 5,000 police officers enhanced security by checking pedestrians' bags at Victoria Park and Causeway Bay streets.
SCMP reported that a woman was arrested at Victoria Park for refusing to present her ID, while others were detained on charges such as public order offenses. Among them was Chan Po-ying, chairperson of the minor opposition party Social Democratic Front, who was carrying a yellow LED candle and yellow paper flowers before being taken to a police station in Wan Chai. Well-known activists Alexandra Wong Fung-yiu and Mak Yan-ting, former president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, were also pulled away while holding bouquets on the street. During this process, passersby reportedly protested against the police detentions.
Additionally, a man dressed in black holding a book titled 'May 35th' was detained. 'May 35th' is a euphemism created to evade censorship of the protest anniversary and is also the title of a play about a woman praying for her son who was a protest victim. Other detainees included a woman wearing a yellow mask holding a card with the Chinese character for 'conscience' and a man wearing a black T-shirt with the phrase "I am a Hongkonger."
The Hong Kong Christian media outlet Christian Times published a petition titled 'June 4th Memorial Prayer Meeting' signed by 360 Hong Kong Christians, and foreign delegations including the US, Australian, British, and Canadian consulates in Hong Kong joined the memorial efforts by displaying candles in their office windows or issuing messages commemorating the 34th anniversary of Tiananmen. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan US cooperation body, nominated three Chinese dissidents?Feng Lizhi, Li Kangmeng, and Zhang Zhan?as candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize on June 2 (local time), also calling for their release.
In Taiwan, the only place in the Chinese-speaking world where memorial events continued, hundreds gathered at Taipei Liberty Square on the 4th. A candlelight vigil was also held at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, attended by Taiwanese and foreign human rights activists, as well as exiled Hong Kong politicians and protesters.
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