Ignoring future leader Tung Chee-hwa, at least 55,000 people last night marked the final pre-handover anniversary of China's pro-democracy crackdown.
The Chief Executive-designate had urged Hong Kong to put the 'baggage of June 4' behind it. Instead, people from all walks of life flooded Victoria Park vowing never to forget the bloody events of eight years ago.
Amid fears that this might be the last candlelight vigil allowed in the territory, they pledged to maintain the fight for a vindication of the 1989 pro-democracy movement and the release of the jailed dissidents.
In front of them, Chinese characters over a huge stage declared: Struggle to the end.
Szeto Wah, chairman of organisers the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, said: 'Eight years - 2,922 days and nights - have passed.
'Tonight we are again using sparks of candlelight, solidified drops of tears to remember you and to mourn you.' The vigil began at 8.30pm with sombre music and the laying of wreath in memory of crackdown victims killed in and around Tiananmen on June 4, 1989.
