Photo essay: 180,000 rally in Hong Kong to mark Tiananmen Sq massacre anniversary

June 5, 2012
Issue 
Candlelight rally
Candlelight rally in Victoria Park, Hong Kong 2012. Photo: Tom Grundy.

This photo essay by Tom Grundy, an activist-journalist based in Hong Kong, shows the 180,000-strong candlelight rally held in Victoria Park, Hong Kong on June 4 to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre in Beijing. It is republished with permission from his Hong Wrong blogsite (archived by Internet Archive).

The Goddess of Democracy statue.

The HK Alliance prepared 80,000 candles for the event, and quickly ran out.

While small demonstrations also took place in the mainland, Hong Kong was the only part of China where rallies to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre were tolerated by authorities.

Activist Fang Zheng, whose legs were crushed under a tank in Tiananmen Square, became emotional as he laid a wreath for the dead.

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