Thousands rally in Hong Kong for Tiananmen Square anniversary vigil

A park in central Hong Kong turned into a sea of candles Thursday as tens of thousands gathered to mark the 26th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, with the city deeply divided ahead of a vote on how to choose its next leader. Six football pitches in Victoria Park were filled with sombre crowds who held candles aloft as they paid silent tribute to the dead. Hong Kong is the only location on Chinese soil to see a major commemoration of the military’s brutal crushing of pro-democracy protests in central Beijing in 1989. Hundreds - by some estimates more than a thousand - died after the Communist Party sent tanks to crush demonstrations at the square in the heart of Beijing, where student-led protesters had staged a peaceful seven-week sit-in to demand democratic reforms.

Tens of thousands have gathered every year to mourn your sacrifice… hoping your day of justice will come.

Mak Hoi-wah of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organises the vigil

The US called for “an official accounting of the victims” of the 1989 crackdown Thursday, as well as the release from prison of those serving Tiananmen-related sentences. The State Department also urged a halt to the harassment and detention of those who want to commemorate the anniversary. The Hong Kong vigil comes as tensions are high just two weeks ahead of a vote on the government’s controversial election roadmap. It also follows huge pro-democracy protests that paralysed parts of the city for months last year. The election proposal goes before the legislature on June 17 and lays out a plan for the first ever public vote for Hong Kong’s chief executive.

World tiananmen vigil