Hong Kong in the sinister shadow of Tiananmen on 31st anniversary of crackdown

Thursday 4 June marks 31 years since the Chinese People’s Liberation Army crushed peaceful protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. In mainland China, commemorations of the event have been effectively wiped out. But in Hong Kong there are still annual vigils to remember what is called the “Tiananmen Square Massacre”. This year, for the first time, the gathering in Victoria Park will not be allowed by the Hong Kong authorities.

Godess of Democracy on Tian'anmen Square, June 2, 1989, two days before the crackdown © RFI/Jan van der Made

Hong Kong police on Monday banned an upcoming vigil marking the anniversary of the events in Tiananmen Square. The official reason: the coronavirus pandemic. It is the first time ever that the gathering, first started after Chinese troops staged a bloody crackdown against protesters in 1989, won’t be held.

The candlelight 4 June vigil usually attracts huge crowds and is the only place on Chinese soil where Beijing tolerates such a major commemoration of the anniversary.

• Slideshow by an anonymous eyewitness to the protests at Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989

The gathering last year was especially large and preceded seven months of increasingly violent pro-democracy protests that paralysed the city and its economy.

Major threat

Police refused permission for this year's rally saying it would "constitute a major threat to the life and health of the general public," according to a letter of objection to organisers obtained by the French news agency, AFP.

Last week, Hong Kong once again erupted in a series of violent clashes after Beijing’s National People’s Congress announced it would adopt regulations governing Hong Kong’s national security.

Hong Kong police were quick to support the legislative decision. The Commissioner of the force, Tang Ping-keung, said in a statement on the Hong Kong police’s website that he’d be happy to work with China’s “disciplinary forces under the Security Bureau in maintaining national security,” adding that since June 2019, “opposition to the proposed legislative amendments has led to massive violent protests,” resulting in “14 cases involving explosives and five cases involving seizure of genuine firearms and ammunition.

Thousands of people attend a candlelight vigil for victims of the Chinese government's brutal military crackdown around Beijing's Tiananmen Square at Victoria Park in Hong Kong Sunday, June 4, 2017. This year, for the first time, the gathering won't take place. AP - Vincent Yu

“The explosives seized were commonly used in terrorist attacks overseas,” adds the statement.

‘Hong Kong independence’

“Criminals even detonated bombs at hospital toilets and on crowded public transport. Facing the riots and extreme separation forces of ‘Hong Kong independence’ stemmed from the social incidents against the extradition bill, police deeply realised that Hong Kong is at the risk point of national security and there is a need to take effective measures to prevent the situation from deteriorating.”

The wording of the statement ominously resembles remarks by Beijing’s leaders in the run-up to the Tiananmen Square crackdown when, in a notorious editorial in the state-run People’s Daily, the leadership declared the demonstrations to be “disturbances,” soon followed by other propaganda articles calling it a “counterrevolutionary rebellion” that was instigated by a “small handful of ruffians”.

Editorial on the front page of the People's Daily on 26 April 1989 against demonstrations that had paralysed Beijing for several weeks. "It is necessary to take a clear-cut stand against disturbances" reads the title. The text is thought to be written by then Chinese strongman Deng Xiaoping. © People's Daily screen grab

Eventually, the mayor of Beijing imposed martial law on 21 May, and then strongman Deng Xiaoping ordered troops of the People’s Liberation Army to clear the square on 4 June, killing over a hundred people during an advance with tanks and armed personnel carriers.

Foreign hostile forces

Organisers of this year’s commemoration accused police of using the Covid-19 virus as an excuse to ban the rally.

"I don't see why the government finds political rallies unacceptable while it gave green lights to resumption of schools and other services ranging from catering, karaoke to swimming pools," said Lee Cheuk-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China which has organised every vigil since 1990.

Three decades on, the Tiananmen crackdown remains one of the most sensitive subjects inside mainland China. If it is mentioned at all, it is euphemistically referred to as the “Tiananmen incident” that was instigated by “foreign hostile forces” using a “small minority of troublemakers”. 

Double standards

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam accused the United States of applying double standards in its response to violent protests as she warned Washington's plan to place trade restrictions on the city, one of the world’s major financial centres, would "only be hurt their own interests".

"We have seen most clearly in recent weeks the double standards that are around," Lam told reporters during a press conference.

"You know there are riots in the United States and we see how local governments reacted. And then in Hong Kong, when we had similar riots, we saw what position they adopted then," she said.

Washington has been critical of Hong Kong's response to the demonstrations with US President Donald Trump last week vowing to end the city's special trading status as a reaction to Beijing’s national security law.