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Protesters in Hong Kong remember Tiananmen Square massacre
A boy, accompanied by his parent, participates in a candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park, June 4,2013 to mourn those who died in a military crackdown on a pro democracy movement at Beijing's Tienanmen Square
in 1989. Tuesday marks the 24th anniversary of the military crackdown of the movement. Photo by Bobby Yip
Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents, joined by a smattering of mainland Chinese, converged in central Victoria Park here Tuesday to honour the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and vent their anger at a Chinese leadership that has increasingly signalled its intent to broaden its limited control over the territory.
Speakers shouted "Down with the Communist Party" and "Free elections for all citizens."
Such protests are effectively banned in mainland China, creating a draw for the mainlanders who attended.
"I came because you can't commemorate this day on the mainland," said one, a former magazine editor who gave his name only as Li for self-protection. "Here you can soak up the democratic atmosphere."
The protesters pressed a variety of agendas. A 17-year-old student named Zheng from Guangdong province was among several holding a flag of the Republic of China, whose leaders fled to Taiwan as the Communists took over the mainland in 1949. Wan Yun, 47, a Hong Kong resident formerly from the Chinese province of Hubei, laid out documents about a land dispute that she said had brought her a year in a labour camp.
The annual demonstration is the most vivid display of the continuing passions over the 1989 crackdown on student protests in Beijing, an event whose name and date has been stricken by censors on mainland China.
Armed soldiers and armoured vehicles swept through Beijing, shooting dead – by most estimates – hundreds of people to end two months of protests, hunger strikes and passionate speeches at Tiananmen Square.
Student leaders backed by thousands of mainly young Chinese had been urging the Communist Party to attack official corruption, expand citizens' rights and take steps toward democracy.
Twenty-four years after the bloodshed, China's Communist Party has honed its response to the unwelcome anniversary: detaining and silencing dissidents and bereaved families who hope to observe the day with mourning; mobilizing extra police officers to ensure that no protests break out around Tiananmen Square; and scrubbing Chinese Internet sites of any references and images that refer to or even hint at the upheavals of 1989.
The major exception to this annual feat of erasure is the event in Hong Kong, a self-administered enclave under Chinese sovereignty, where tens of thousands gather each year for a candlelit memorial vigil and rally.
This year's crowd was estimated by the police at 54,000 people, although organizers put the turnout at 150,000.
Protesters in Hong Kong remember Tiananmen Square massacre - The Globe and Mail
A boy, accompanied by his parent, participates in a candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park, June 4,2013 to mourn those who died in a military crackdown on a pro democracy movement at Beijing's Tienanmen Square
in 1989. Tuesday marks the 24th anniversary of the military crackdown of the movement. Photo by Bobby Yip
Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents, joined by a smattering of mainland Chinese, converged in central Victoria Park here Tuesday to honour the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and vent their anger at a Chinese leadership that has increasingly signalled its intent to broaden its limited control over the territory.
Speakers shouted "Down with the Communist Party" and "Free elections for all citizens."
Such protests are effectively banned in mainland China, creating a draw for the mainlanders who attended.
"I came because you can't commemorate this day on the mainland," said one, a former magazine editor who gave his name only as Li for self-protection. "Here you can soak up the democratic atmosphere."
The protesters pressed a variety of agendas. A 17-year-old student named Zheng from Guangdong province was among several holding a flag of the Republic of China, whose leaders fled to Taiwan as the Communists took over the mainland in 1949. Wan Yun, 47, a Hong Kong resident formerly from the Chinese province of Hubei, laid out documents about a land dispute that she said had brought her a year in a labour camp.
The annual demonstration is the most vivid display of the continuing passions over the 1989 crackdown on student protests in Beijing, an event whose name and date has been stricken by censors on mainland China.
Armed soldiers and armoured vehicles swept through Beijing, shooting dead – by most estimates – hundreds of people to end two months of protests, hunger strikes and passionate speeches at Tiananmen Square.
Student leaders backed by thousands of mainly young Chinese had been urging the Communist Party to attack official corruption, expand citizens' rights and take steps toward democracy.
Twenty-four years after the bloodshed, China's Communist Party has honed its response to the unwelcome anniversary: detaining and silencing dissidents and bereaved families who hope to observe the day with mourning; mobilizing extra police officers to ensure that no protests break out around Tiananmen Square; and scrubbing Chinese Internet sites of any references and images that refer to or even hint at the upheavals of 1989.
The major exception to this annual feat of erasure is the event in Hong Kong, a self-administered enclave under Chinese sovereignty, where tens of thousands gather each year for a candlelit memorial vigil and rally.
This year's crowd was estimated by the police at 54,000 people, although organizers put the turnout at 150,000.
Protesters in Hong Kong remember Tiananmen Square massacre - The Globe and Mail
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