Over 150,000 Expected to Join Hong Kong June 4 Commemoration: Shanghaiist
As today marks the 25th anniversary of the violent crackdown by Chinese troops at Tiananmen Square, Hong Kong prepares for the annual public vigil for the event—the largest and only one of its kind permitted within China.
Organisers have said they are expecting a crowd of up to 150,000 people to show up, including Hong Kong locals, groups of mainlanders who’ve come to Hong Kong for the occasion and expats, following last Saturday’s thousands-strong march in the city commemorating the event.
Every year, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China organises a public event in Victoria Peak where a candlelit vigil is held to remember the student protesters who were killed on June 4, 1989. Participants also demand for government accountability of the event as well as the end of the CCP’s one-party system.
More: Over 150,000 Expected to Join Hong Kong June 4 Commemoration: Shanghaiist
Meanwhile, the mainland’s censors have gone into high gear to block searches of and discussions about the Tian’anmen student protests and their bloody aftermath, when the government sent in troops to put down the “insurrection.” On the mainland, among people who know about it, the Tian’anmen is an “open secret” — something that is shared knowledge, but rarely discussed.
I once asked a friend of mine here if China’s currency would ever feature the image of Deng Xiaoping, who “opened up” China to the world and to free markets. He said flatly no, because too many people remember that it was Deng who authorized the military crackdown on the students in 1989.
There will be many articles about Tian’anmen 1989. Here’s my own modest contribution, at my blog.