Thousands in Hong Kong mark Tiananmen crackdown

Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong yesterday marked the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as China defies international condemnation with an ongoing roundup of political dissidents.

A sea of people, mostly clad in black as a sign of mourning, held up candles and sang solemn songs – some with teary eyes – as they filled an area the size of six football fields at the Victoria Park, the only commemoration on Chinese soil.

Organisers said 150,000 people had converged on park, with many others still struggling to make their way through the crowds to the site.

“I am here with a heavy heart; it is very emotional for me,” Gladys Liu, a 48-year-old mother of two told AFP.

“I still remember the scenes – how the army tanks were sent in to break up the student-led protests. I was following the news closely, I never thought it would turn so violent,” said Liu, who turned up with her son, 14, and nine-year-old daughter.

“I want my children to know what happened. This is not something that can be learned in school,” she added.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are believed to have died when the government sent in tanks and soldiers to clear Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3-4, 1989, bringing a violent end to six weeks of pro-democracy protests.

An official verdict after the protests called them a “counter-revolutionary rebellion” although the wording has since been softened.

“I want to know the truth of June 4,” said 17-year-old student Melissa Tang, who was among many youngsters at the vigil, as she raised candle in the air.