Saturday’s Tiananmen vigil in Victoria Park drew an estimated 125,000 attendees, according to organisers – the lowest turnout since 2008, reports RTHK.
A birdseye view of the Victoria Park vigil. Photo: Reuters/Paul Yeung
In contrast, police estimated attendance at 21,800.
Photo: Adrian Lo
The annual vigil is the only place on Chinese soil where June 4 commemorations are tolerated.
Photo: Adrian Lo
Hongkongers of all ages gathered to light candles for the dead, sing songs calling for freedom, and watch footage of the brutal crackdowns on student protests in 1989 which resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of deaths.
Photo: Adrian Lo
Organisers brought a white plaster replica of the “Goddess of Democracy” statue which students erected in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The Goddess in Victoria Park was adorned with stickers of umbrellas and slogans calling for genuine universal suffrage, both of which are associated with Hong Kong’s Occupy Movement.
Candles arranged to form “6.4” during proceedings at Victoria Park. Photo: Adrian Lo
Photo: Adrian Lo
Photo: Adrian Lo
Photo: Reuters/Bobby Yip
At one point, an activist called Simon Sin rushed the stage and shouted, “we don’t want a democratic China, we want Hong Kong independence – we need to take care of ourselves,” according to HKFP.
Photo: Reuters/Paul Yeung
A moment of silence was observed in remembrance of the dead. Around 300 attendees then took part in a march from Causeway Bay to the China Liaison Office in Sai Wan to protest the continued failure on Beijing’s part to take responsibility for – or even acknowledge – the bloodshed during the crackdown on Tiananmen Square 27 years ago.
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