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Opinion | June 4 vigil is Hong Kong’s canary in a coal mine. Will it survive Beijing’s national security law?
- The candlelight vigil marking the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, a bellwether for Hong Kong’s freedoms, is banned this year. Will it ever return?
- The city’s response to the crackdown was seen as subversive and prompted Beijing to adopt a more hardline approach to the drafting of the Basic Law. Those effects are still being felt today
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For the past 30 years, thousands of people have gathered in Hong Kong on June 4 for a candlelight vigil to remember those who were killed in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
This peaceful and poignant memorial, in which a sea of flickering candle flames illuminates Victoria Park, has long been seen as a bellwether for the survival of the city’s freedoms after its return to China in 1997.
This year, there will be no such vigil. Police have banned the gathering, citing public health grounds amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Organisers are instead encouraging people to light a candle tonight, wherever they may be.
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The anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on a mass student protest movement in Beijing comes at a time of crisis and concern in Hong Kong. After months of anti-government protests, which have often turned violent, the central government is to impose new national security laws on the city.
The details of the laws, covering subversion, separatism, terrorism, and foreign interference are not yet known. But there are legitimate concerns that the legislation will change Hong Kong forever, restricting freedoms, silencing opposition voices and undermining the “one country, two systems” arrangements.
02:18
Coronavirus: Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil organisers can't hold mass gathering due to Covid-19
Coronavirus: Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil organisers can't hold mass gathering due to Covid-19
Government officials, tycoons, university chiefs, artists and others have fallen into line and rallied behind the central government’s drastic move. Others, meanwhile, publicly or privately express their fears for the city’s future.
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