Crowds might be down but Hong Kong’s June 4 spirit remains strong with donations up 30 per cent to HK$1.74 million

Donations to organisers of the June 4 candlelight vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown have surged 30 per cent to HK$1.74 million despite a lower turnout at last night’s Victoria Park event.

Attendance at the world’s biggest commemoration to the 1989 protests was down by 10,000 from the previous year to 125,000 – the lowest since the 20th anniversary vigil in 2009. Police put the figures at a mere 21,800, one of the biggest discrepancies in years compared with the organisers’ estimate.

The waning support came amid the rise of localism in Hong Kong, with a growing number of youths annoyed by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China’s goal to build a democratic China. Instead, they believe the city should focus on its own fight.

But democrat veteran Cheung Man-kwong, the standing committee member of alliance, said donations had increased HK$400,000 over the previous year.