The leader of an opposition party in Hong Kong, the League of Social Democrats, was arrested on Sunday June 4, 34e anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, noted journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP). Chan Po-ying, a pro-democracy activist, held a small LED candle – a prop often used at vigils commemorating June 4, 1989 – and two flowers. The police immediately arrested her before taking her away in a van.
Earlier in the day, AFP had already observed the arrest of eight other people, including Alexandra Wong, 67, a pro-democracy activist better known as “Mamie Wong”. The police first surrounded her, then Mme Wong followed them without resisting, brandishing her bouquet of flowers.
Another woman was also arrested after screaming “Raise candles! Cry on 4/6! »in reference to June 4, 1989. Dressed in black, a young man was carrying the book entitled “May 35” at the time of his arrest, another way of referring to the Tiananmen events, which took place four days after May 31.
After being briefly interrogated, searched and then released, one woman told AFP with a shrug: “Everyone knows what day it is today. » The day before, the Hong Kong police had already arrested four people for “disorderly conduct on public roads” and for “acts for seditious purposes”, and four others for “disturbing public order”.
Silence all dissent
For more than thirty years, tens of thousands of people have gathered each year in Victoria Park in Hong Kong for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of Tiananmen. But in 2020 Beijing imposed a national security law in the former British colony to muzzle dissent following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. Hong Kong authorities have since ended the vigils, which have never been allowed in mainland China.
This year, the huge park gathering in the central Causeway Bay district has been replaced by a trade fair devoted to products from mainland China and organized until Monday by pro-Beijing groups to celebrate the 26e anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. “Hong Kong is a different city today”believes M.me Wong, 53, who agrees to give only his surname, while praising the Pro-Chinese fair.
Hong Kong, returned to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, was for a long time the only Chinese city to organize a candlelight vigil in memory of Tiananmen. It was also a key indicator of the freedoms and political pluralism conferred on it by its status as a semi-autonomous territory.
In mainland China, all traces of the Tiananmen events have been erased by the authorities. History textbooks do not mention it, online discussions on this subject are systematically censored. Evidenced by the misadventure of the British Embassy in Beijing, which posted Sunday on social networks a “one” dating from June 4, 1989 from People’s Dailythe propaganda organ of the Chinese Communist Party, which described the influx of the wounded into hospitals following the crackdown.
Pro-democracy figures arrested or refugees
“Within twenty minutes, the censors deleted our post from Weibo [réseau social chinois] », the British Embassy tweeted on Sunday. This year, the Chinese police also monitored several emblematic sites of the rare movement of hostility towards the Xi Jinping regime which broke out in the fall of 2022. A large police force was thus deployed around Beijing’s Sitong Bridge, the scene of he demonstration, at the end of November, where a banner demanding more freedom had been unrolled there.
In Hong Kong, most figures of the pro-democracy movement have been arrested or have taken refuge abroad since the entry into force of a law on national security. This is particularly the case of the leaders of the association which organized the vigil of Victoria Park, Hongkong Alliance. However, the authorities still seemed to be on high alert in the face of possible expressions of dissent.
The city’s chief executive, John Lee, has warned that every Hong Kong resident must obey the law and stand “ready to bear the consequences” in case of violation. Elsewhere in the world, June 4 commemorations will take place in Japan, Sydney, New York and London where a re-enactment of the Tiananmen events will be held in Trafalgar Square.
In Taiwan, a play by Hong Kong author Candace Chong, entitled May 35will also be played this Sunday in a theater in the capital. “History and memory won’t be easily erasedestimates the Hong Konger Sky Fung, secretary general of the NGO Hongkong Outlanders, based in Taipei. The spark is still in our hearts. »