'Whitewash' of facts dishonours Tiananmen victims: vigil leaders

Fuelled by anger against DAB chairman Ma Lik's 'whitewash' of the Tiananmen crackdown, tens of thousands of mourners jammed Victoria Park last night for the annual candle-light vigil.

The organisers, the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, claimed a turnout of 55,000, which was 11,000 more than their estimate last year and 10,000 more than in 2005. Police put the number at 27,000.

As the mass of candles turned the park's six soccer pitches into a vista of twinkling light, the commemoration began shortly after 8pm with the rolling-out of names and pictures of the victims on stage.

Alliance chairman Szeto Wah told the crowd: 'Ma Lik and the like who have insulted [the Tiananmen victims] will definitely go down in history like rubbish.'

In a separate declaration, the alliance also condemned the DAB chief for covering up the atrocities and likened him to Yuan Mu, the former State Council spokesman who said foreign documentaries on the 1989 crackdown were fake.

'Through the candle light, we see the bloody scene and the dead bodies in Tiananmen Square 18 years ago,' Mr Szeto said. 'Back then, Yuan Mu was shamelessly covering up the massacre. Today, Ma Lik does the same,' he said referring to Mr Ma's claim that the Tiananmen deaths did not amount to a massacre.