More Hong Kong residents support vindication of June 4 incident

A war of words has erupted between a prominent "Tiananmen mother", whose 17-year-old son was killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, and a Hong Kong group pushing for a reversal of Beijing's stance on the pro-democracy movement.

Professor Ding Zilin, founder of the Tiananmen mothers support group, yesterday criticised as "stupid" the slogan adopted by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China - "love the country and love the people".

Ding alleged that Tsui Hon-kwong, a member of the alliance's standing committee, demeaned her integrity amid continuing debate among supporters of the alliance over the slogan it adopted for this year's June 4 vigil at Victoria Park.

Ding said that the alliance had written to her earlier to ask her to show support for the theme but she thought "love the country" was not appropriate.

Tsui, a member of the standing committee of the alliance, then criticised her in an email reply, saying that she did not understand the situation of the alliance and Hong Kong, and that she had "Stockholm Syndrome" and took pity on the Communist party, Ding said.

She told the South China Morning Post late last night from Beijing that she is furious with Tsui's accusation.

She said she never intended to get involved in the debate over the slogan and only responded after a standing committee member of the alliance wrote to her seeking her views.