MNeagle
4th June 2010, 05:24 PM
June 5 (Bloomberg) -- More than 100,000 people gathered in Hong Kong last night for a candle-lit vigil to mark the 21st anniversary of the Chinese government’s crackdown on pro- democracy student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.
An estimated 150,000 attended the vigil, the only commemoration of the event on Chinese soil, according to Richard Tsoi, one of the organizers. A police spokeswoman, who declined be identified per department policy, said authorities estimated the crowd at 113,000. Twenty-one years ago, about 1 million people took to the streets.
The crowd last night “shows the depth of feeling about the issue of Tiananmen in Hong Kong,†said Tsoi, who is also vice chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. “It’s also a signal to the government in Hong Kong that people care about the issue of greater democracy.â€
People laid flowers at a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue that was erected in protests in Beijing in 1989. Wreaths were on display at the city’s Victoria Park to commemorate the dead.
In the crackdown, Chinese troops fired on demonstrators who had been massing in the square for weeks. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing estimated a death toll exceeding 1,000, and in Hong Kong, which was due to return to China in 1997, one-sixth of the population marched in protest.
Student Leader
“Hong Kong has inherited the spirit of the 1989 generation,†Wang Dan, a Chinese democracy activist and student leader during the standoff against Chinese troops two decades ago, wrote in an e-mail from California. “Many Chinese people from the mainland have been going to Hong Kong to breathe the air of freedom.â€
“I’m here because we must never forget what happened at Tiananmen Square,†Peter Ho, 72, a retired computer engineer and Hong Kong resident, said at the vigil. “This is a way of keeping alive the memory of those who died and teaching our children and grandchildren what happened.â€
An 18-year-old student, Willis Ho, expressed a similar view, adding that “the government has never apologized for what happened.â€
Red Umbrellas
In Beijing, June 4 began quietly with half-a-dozen white police vans parked east of Tiananmen Square. A man flew a kite, tourists snapped photographs and tour groups queued outside the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.
In the afternoon, 50 to 60 young men and women in red T- shirts identifying them as “security volunteers†sat in groups, holding red umbrellas. The city regularly uses community volunteers for security, mobilizing 300,000 last year for the Oct.1 National Day celebrations, according to state media.
In the evening, people gathered in the square to watch the ritual lowering of the flag.
In Tokyo, Wuer Kaixi, a leader of the 1989 demonstrations, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of trespassing on the Chinese embassy, Kyodo News reported, citing police. A spokeswoman at the Metropolitan Police Department couldn’t confirm the report.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu responded June 3 to a question about the anniversary by saying: “Judging from the past few decades of experience, the development path China has chosen is suitable for China’s national conditions and the development of the Chinese people.â€
Civilian Deaths
In a 1989 report to the government, Beijing’s mayor said about 200 civilians died in the crackdown.
In Hong Kong, in what vigil organizers say was a heavy- handed tactic by the authorities, police on May 29 removed the replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue from outside a shopping center in Causeway Bay, the government said.
“Many times in the past we have placed this kind of statue outside Times Square and never received any response from the government or police,†said Tsoi.
Last year’s vigil, marking the 20th anniversary of the crackdown, also drew about 150,000 people, according to organizers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVNK_qHebREg&pos=9
An estimated 150,000 attended the vigil, the only commemoration of the event on Chinese soil, according to Richard Tsoi, one of the organizers. A police spokeswoman, who declined be identified per department policy, said authorities estimated the crowd at 113,000. Twenty-one years ago, about 1 million people took to the streets.
The crowd last night “shows the depth of feeling about the issue of Tiananmen in Hong Kong,†said Tsoi, who is also vice chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. “It’s also a signal to the government in Hong Kong that people care about the issue of greater democracy.â€
People laid flowers at a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue that was erected in protests in Beijing in 1989. Wreaths were on display at the city’s Victoria Park to commemorate the dead.
In the crackdown, Chinese troops fired on demonstrators who had been massing in the square for weeks. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing estimated a death toll exceeding 1,000, and in Hong Kong, which was due to return to China in 1997, one-sixth of the population marched in protest.
Student Leader
“Hong Kong has inherited the spirit of the 1989 generation,†Wang Dan, a Chinese democracy activist and student leader during the standoff against Chinese troops two decades ago, wrote in an e-mail from California. “Many Chinese people from the mainland have been going to Hong Kong to breathe the air of freedom.â€
“I’m here because we must never forget what happened at Tiananmen Square,†Peter Ho, 72, a retired computer engineer and Hong Kong resident, said at the vigil. “This is a way of keeping alive the memory of those who died and teaching our children and grandchildren what happened.â€
An 18-year-old student, Willis Ho, expressed a similar view, adding that “the government has never apologized for what happened.â€
Red Umbrellas
In Beijing, June 4 began quietly with half-a-dozen white police vans parked east of Tiananmen Square. A man flew a kite, tourists snapped photographs and tour groups queued outside the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.
In the afternoon, 50 to 60 young men and women in red T- shirts identifying them as “security volunteers†sat in groups, holding red umbrellas. The city regularly uses community volunteers for security, mobilizing 300,000 last year for the Oct.1 National Day celebrations, according to state media.
In the evening, people gathered in the square to watch the ritual lowering of the flag.
In Tokyo, Wuer Kaixi, a leader of the 1989 demonstrations, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of trespassing on the Chinese embassy, Kyodo News reported, citing police. A spokeswoman at the Metropolitan Police Department couldn’t confirm the report.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu responded June 3 to a question about the anniversary by saying: “Judging from the past few decades of experience, the development path China has chosen is suitable for China’s national conditions and the development of the Chinese people.â€
Civilian Deaths
In a 1989 report to the government, Beijing’s mayor said about 200 civilians died in the crackdown.
In Hong Kong, in what vigil organizers say was a heavy- handed tactic by the authorities, police on May 29 removed the replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue from outside a shopping center in Causeway Bay, the government said.
“Many times in the past we have placed this kind of statue outside Times Square and never received any response from the government or police,†said Tsoi.
Last year’s vigil, marking the 20th anniversary of the crackdown, also drew about 150,000 people, according to organizers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVNK_qHebREg&pos=9