Explainer | Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigil, banned for the first time in 30 years: what you need to know about June 4 event in the city

The event, the only one of its size on Chinese soil, has been called off by city police amid a ban on large gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic

And with a new national security law in the wings, organisers fear the vigil, which shines a spotlight on the 1989 crackdown, may be outlawed entirely

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People hold candles aloft during a June 4 candlelight vigil at Victoria Park commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 10:00am, 4 Jun 2020Updated: 12:17pm, 4 Jun 2020

A ban on public gatherings triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic is set to interrupt a decades-old Hong Kong tradition that has turned Victoria Park into a sea of lit candles every June 4, a commemoration of the bloody 1989 crackdown on the student-led protest movement in Beijing.

But the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organises the annual candlelight vigil, has vowed to head to the park nonetheless, at the risk of police intervention.

Others have made alternative plans to join Thursday’s vigil remotely, staging events marking the Tiananmen Square anniversary in theatres and churches.

Here is what you should know about the annual candlelight vigil and why it matters to Hong Kong, China and the world.

Organisers of the annual vigil lead attendees in chants and songs from a stage erected in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. Photo: Sam Tsang

What is the significance of the annual commemoration of the Tiananmen Square crackdown?

The candlelight vigil in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay area is the only large-scale public commemoration of the June 4 crackdown on Chinese soil.