HK ‘umbrella’ protest gives topical relevance to Tiananmen vigil

Tens of thousands of people attend an annual candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on Thursday to mark Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 as tension lingers in the financial hub from its pro-democracy protests last year. More than six months since Hong Kong police demolished the last encampments of protesters agitating for full democracy in the city, the organizers of this year’s June 4 vigil are aiming to link the events, which is likely to antagonise China.

We should not separate our fight for democracy from that of China’s. We should link up the two and fight in unity.

Lee Cheuk-yan, vigil organiser

A statue of a goddess of democracy - which towered over the Tiananmen protests in 1989 - would sport a yellow umbrella - a symbol of defiance in Hong Kong last year when activists used umbrellas to shield themselves from police pepper spray and teargas. Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a deal to preserve wide-ranging freedoms, is the only place on Chinese soil where commemorations of June 4 are tolerated.

We would like to speak out for Hong Kong, for the democracy, freedom and human rights we are fighting for.

Chou Ching-chang, an organiser

Politics