Amid Hong Kong limits on Tiananmen Square commemoration, activists in US call on world not to forget

Crowds gather in San Francisco to keep the memory of June 4 alive, one of many events in the US marking the anniversary

To those who participated in the Chinese pro-democracy movement of 1989, the dwindling opportunities to hold public vigils are seen as a call to action

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An attendee at the vigil in San Francisco on Thursday night crouches before a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue. Photo: Owen Churchill

Published: 5:35am, 5 Jun 2021Updated: 7:23pm, 5 Jun 2021

In a small corner of San Francisco’s bustling Chinatown, silence fell for a brief moment on Thursday evening as some 200 people gathered to mark 32 years since Beijing’s bloody crackdown of student-led calls for democracy.

Leading the moment of silence was Fang Zheng, a survivor of the 1989 violence. He addressed the gathered crowd 32 years – almost to the hour – after he fell beneath one of the tanks deployed by the Chinese government to clear Tiananmen Square of the thousands of students gathered there.

Fang’s legs, crushed by the tank’s tracks, were later amputated.

“Thirty-two years have passed, we’ve never forgotten this tragedy,” said Fang, a former track-and-field star who settled in California. “Moreover, we’ll never give up our pursuit of the truth, nor will we give up seeking accountability for this crime.”

Thursday night’s vigil, an annual fixture in San Francisco’s Portsmouth Square, was just one of numerous events held by activists in the United States – both on- and offline – to honour those killed in 1989.

Fang Zheng, who lost both legs after being crushed by a tank on June 4, 1989, speaks at a vigil in San Francisco marking the 32nd anniversary of the crackdown. Photo: Owen Churchill

Despite frigid temperatures and the continuing pandemic, the gathering was among the highest attended in the San Francisco vigil’s history, according to long-time participant Zhou Fengsuo, a New York-based activist and erstwhile leader of the 1989 movement.