Tiananmen vigil: at least six arrested as Hongkongers fan out across city to mark June 4
- Barricaded Victoria Park, the original venue of annual vigil, empty under heavy police presence
- Black-clad demonstrators also shout pro-independence slogans in defiance of an ironclad police ban on annual vigil
Hongkongers fanned out across the city on Friday evening to mark the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown, staging small protests by lighting candles or flashing their mobile phones as clutches of black-clad demonstrators also shouted pro-independence slogans in defiance of an ironclad police ban on the annual vigil at Victoria Park.
As of 10pm, at least six people, aged 20 to 75, were arrested on suspicion of inciting others to participate in an unauthorised assembly, ordinary assault, disorderly conduct in a public place and obstruction of police, the force said. Twelve people were fined for flouting the coronavirus-related ban on public gatherings of more than four people.
The dispersed display of protest was in response to police putting the park into security lockdown and turning away people who would have otherwise showed up to commemorate the crackdown 32 years ago.
At 8pm, the hour at which the crowds would have traditionally lit their candles in a show of unity, Victoria Park loomed dark and empty. The action was elsewhere, as people in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay did an ambush-style protest, spontaneously either lighting their own candles, or flashing the light on their mobile phones to mark the moment.
June 4 vigil becomes test for protest limits in Hong Kong’s security law era
In Mong Kok, a group clad in black – the traditional colour of protest and mourning – chanted “Hong Kong independence, the only way out” and “Rogue cops, may your family members die”, popular rallying cries during the 2019 anti-government demonstrations.
In another flashback to the unrest, a taxi lane in front of the Times Square shopping centre in Causeway Bay was blocked with rubbish bins, resulting in a squad of police officers giving chase down the street to a group in black.
At around 8.30pm, police raised the purple flag at a Mong Kok pedestrian zone, warning against behaviour that could be in breach of the national security law. Around 20 people were cornered and searched by officers. The Post observed that most of them did not carry candles, and some were just holding shopping bags. A few wore black clothes.
A similar stop-and-search operation occurred outside a church in Tsuen Wan, where a crowd had gathered with candles. Police warned that they could be violating the ban on gatherings, but no arrests were made. People turned up for mass at seven Catholic churches across Hong Kong to remember those who died in the crackdown.
In Sha Tin, cars outside the Church of St Benedict honked their horns as crowds dressed in black milling around the venue also turned on phone flashlights.
Outside Fashion Walk in Causeway Bay, people chanted the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times”, prompting police to raise a purple flag, warning the public they might be in breach of the national security law.
About 50 people formed a straight line with lit candles and flashlights on their mobile phones at the nearby Sogo department store, just blocks from Victoria Park, when the clock struck 8pm.
A clerk in her 50s said she had never been to previous vigils but felt obliged to show up this year amid the police ban.
“I used to take things for granted but now I realise it is important to make a stance,” the woman, who only gave her surname as Fan, said while holding a candle.
Earlier, others had tried to get as close to the barricaded Victoria Park to remember the day in 1989 when military tanks rolled into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and crushed weeks of student-led protests calling for more democracy. All at the park were turned away by officers. Police later handcuffed and arrested one man who was yelling “death to black cops”.
Elsewhere, small groups clad in black were spotted at the harbourfront at Tsim Sha Tsui.
In a statement at around 9.30pm, police said a large group of protesters had gathered along Paterson Street and Kingston Street in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok’s Sai Yeung Choi Street South.
The force warned protesters to stop all unlawful acts as it would “enforce the law resolutely” and that some of those who “chanted slogans suspected of inciting or abetting others to commit acts of secession”, might have breached the national security law.
Searches and arrests
Earlier in the evening, man surnamed Wu also brought an old copy of the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Po in 1989 to the park and read out its coverage about the crackdown that year.
“The crackdown was a real piece of history written in the most loyal newspaper to Beijing,” Wu, who was subsequently searched by police, said. “I have possibly just grasped my last chance to discuss it with friends in public. I’m afraid that discussing June 4 will become a crime next year.”
A 21-year-old new immigrant from Fujian, who only gave his surname as Hui, was also stopped and searched by officers at around 3pm near Victoria Park.
He said he wanted to see for himself whether the vigil had entirely vanished from Hong Kong, which used to be the only place on Chinese soil to hold a large-scale commemoration of the crackdown.
“I grew up on the mainland and the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown was never mentioned in books or online, but many are curious,” Hui, who came to Hong Kong to work in a restaurant last July, said.
At around 2.30pm, officers had surrounded the football pitches, central lawn and other areas of the park in Causeway Bay to prevent public access, warning that anyone who tried to break through police lines would be in violation of the law.
At 7.45pm, the convenor of localist group Student Politicism, Wong Yat-chin, raised flags and gave a speech on freedom outside Hollywood Plaza in Mong Kok was arrested for disorderly conduct in a public place. He was handcuffed and taken away.
Church prayers
At St Andrew’s Catholic Church in Hang Hau, about 200 seats were filled by 7pm, an hour ahead of the mass, prompting church officials to turn away dozens of worshippers.
Retired Hong Kong bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun led hundreds of people to pray for those who lost their lives in the crackdown 32 years ago. He said authorities still failed to listen to people’s voices after decades.
“The tragedy of June 4 will not leave us gradually,” he said, adding that he had prayed that those in power could walk the path of justice and peace.
A social worker, surnamed Lee, 50, who attended mass, said she had been to the Victoria Park vigil whenever possible over the past 32 years, and this year was the first time she had gone elsewhere to mark June 4.
“The June 4 crackdown marked how China breached human rights. The people fought for the freedoms of assembly and speech, which Hong Kong used to have. But these are declining here,” she said.
Meanwhile, hundreds, mostly wearing black, showed up at Chinese Methodist Church in Wan Chai.
“Commemorating June 4 in a public place is like making a statement to tell people about our belief,” said a woman in her 30s surnamed Chan. “To be honest, the church could be unsafe as well, but at least I can have a place to pray.”
At the University of Hong Kong, about 30 members of the student union cleaned a Pillar of Shame sculpture in an annual tradition.
“The purpose of this event is to safeguard historical truth, commemorate the victims and educate students on the history of their university,” union president Charles Kwok Wing-ho said, adding they faced no pressure from the institution for their activities.
Tony Ng, a year four arts student, admitted Chow’s arrest had heightened the risk of taking part in the cleaning.
“But I have done nothing wrong. So I am going to continue doing what I believe to be right,” he said.
Reporting by Natalie Wong, Kathleen Magramo, Kanis Leung, Lilian Cheng, Laura Westbrook, Jeffie Lam, Phila Siu, Chris Lau, Jack Lau, Nadia Lam
