55,000 commemorate Tiananmen massacre

Some 55,000 people demonstrated in Hong Kong on June 4 — the 18th anniversary of the Chinese army's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Protesters called for justice for the massacre's victims. There were also chants calling for a democratic China and an end to one-party rule on the mainland. About 10,000 more people turned out this year than in 2006, according to the organisers, the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. On May 27 a hastily built 1500-strong protest was held in heavy rain. The action was a response to claims by Ma Lik, a leader of Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (a pro-Beijing party), that the massacre didn't take place.

Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule 10 years ago, continues to be the only Chinese territory where sizeable events commemorating the massacre have taken place. The slightest sign of attempts to mark the day on the mainland have been forcibly dealt with, including through pre-emptive house arrests of suspected organisers. This year for the first time, an easing of restrictions enabled some parents of students killed during the massacre to publicly pay tribute to them on the side of a main street near Tiananmen.

The students' account of the massacre and arguments in support of their 1989 actions are still banned in China, fostering a general ignorance of the events among younger generations. A collection of the documents from 1989 can be downloaded from http://www.aidoh.dk/4june89.

From GLW issue 713