this officials Hong Kong Tiananmen massacre commemorations canceled for the first time under the edict National Security Law imposed from Beijing, which suppressed opposition from its territory.
Unlike in the past three decades, rallies and speeches in Hong Kong’s Victory Park plaza will be empty unless the public assembles against the orders of the authorities.
Hong Kong Police warns people not to gather in the areaAccording to the Hong Kong Free Press, the possible concentration is in preparation this Saturday, especially around the park in Causeway Bay.
Similarly, and according to the ‘South China Morning Post’, Chinese officials have warned the consulates of some Western countries in Hong Kong to refrain from publicly commemorating the 1989 edition.
“The Chinese relations office has asked us not to tweet, retweet or say anything publicly about June 4,” a European diplomat told the media.
Last year, the US Consulate and EU office in Hong Kong lit candles in their windows in an unprecedented move, prompting a harsh response from Beijing, which accused both posts of “playing with fire”.
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenactually accused Beijing of conducting a censorship exercise on Friday After Hong Kong authorities announced their decision to cordon off part of the park, the traditional site of the watch, until 2020, when it is banned for health reasons due to the pandemic.
Blow to the protests
this brutal repression of student and worker protestsThe events that took place in Tiananmen Square between April and June 1989 remain a taboo subject, among other things, as the demands made at the time go unanswered by the Chinese authorities.
The trigger for the protests in Tiananmen was the sudden death at a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party. (CCP) former general secretary Hu Yaobang spearheaded the reform of the 1980s, but was forced to resign by the “de facto” leader by Asian giant Deng Xiaoping due to his failure to contain the student riots of 1987.
Students and teachers were the first to join the Tiananmen call to demand a real political opening. Later they were joined by urban workers who saw the economic reforms as a threat to their status. With the common vector of corruption, this mix of demands crystallized in great concentration in the heart of Beijing.
After several attempts at dialogue, the government declared martial law in May and sent the Armed Forces to disperse the protest in June. The demonstrators agreed to leave Tiananmen to avoid a bitter clash that resulted in soldiers shooting at unarmed civilians in the surrounding streets on the night of 3-4 June.
The massacre was documented in the international press, which was in China at that time to report on the visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. However, it is unknown how many victims he left that night. The Tiananmen Mothers managed to document at least 202 deaths, and HRW and Human Rights in China identified at least 522 detainees. This was the largest civilian massacre in China since the Maoist purges.