Hong Kong University students’ union plans ‘alternative’ June 4 vigil
The student union of the University of Hong Kong will for the first time organise its own public assembly commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, to give mourners an "alternative" to the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park.
The student union of the University of Hong Kong will for the first time organise its own public assembly commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, to give mourners an "alternative" to the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park.
All 18 members of the union's current affairs committee made a unanimous decision to break away this year from the June 4 vigil's organiser, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, union president Billy Fung Jing-en said.
The alliance, chaired by Democratic Party lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan, has strong links with pan-democratic politicians. One of its guiding visions for the traditional vigil is to "build a democratic China".
The committee disagreed with that vision, preferring to take a local Hong Kong perspective on shaping the city's politics as opposed to adopting a nationalistic stance - two diverging approaches that have divided society.
"We don't agree with its view that if the mainland has no democracy, Hongkongers should give up all hope for democracy," Fung said yesterday.
He said the union's assembly would be "Hong Kong-oriented", with a seminar discussing the city's democratic future.
Hong Kong is the only place in China that allows public commemoration of June 4.
Ho said there was "nothing wrong" with the ideal of building a democratic China, though he respected the union's decision.
Asked if he feared a drop in attendance due to alternative vigils, Ho said: "I'm not worried … But the larger the [Victoria Park] assembly, the more symbolic and touching it will be."
The students' unions of four other universities, including Chinese University, would give speeches at Victoria Park, he said.
Ching Cheong, a former journalist once jailed on the mainland for allegedly spying for Taiwan, would also attend to show solidarity with outspoken reporter Gao Yu , 71, jailed on the mainland for the third time in her life, for "leaking state secrets".
The HKU union plans to stage its assembly on campus in Pok Fu Lam from 7.30pm. It expects 1,000 to 1,500 people to join, including members of the public.
Participants would not be led in singing songs or chanting slogans, unlike the usual practice at Victoria Park, Fung said. Instead, organisers would show videos of the crackdown and last year's Occupy movement.
The topic of Occupy will also come up at Victoria Park - but the alliance will focus on people arrested on the mainland for backing the civil disobedience sit-ins.
On June 4, the HKU students' union will honour its yearly tradition to repaint Chinese words on a flyover on campus that mark the incident. The words were first painted by students in 1989.