Hong Kong universities boycott annual June 4th candlelight vigil

The 2015 vigil in Victoria Park. Photo: Laurel Chor/Coconuts Media
The 2015 vigil in Victoria Park. Photo: Laurel Chor/Coconuts Media

In recent years, an increasing number of people — especially university students — have dropped out of the annual candlelight vigil. This year, with anti-China sentiment growing amongst the city’s youths, all 10 universities in Hong Kong will be completely boycotting the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China’s vigil in Victoria Park.

Instead, June 4th-related forums will be held at the schools, including the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). Student union representatives told HK01 that they would not attend the vigil as they do not agree with the Alliance’s goal of building a democratic China. 

The external affairs vice president of Hong Kong Baptist University’s (HKBU) student union, Kwan Wai-mak, said achieving the goal set by the Alliance is not Hongkongers’ responsibility. He also referred to the Tiananmen Square crackdown as “merely the neighboring country’s history”, HK01 reports.

A joint forum led by OUHK and Education University of Hong Kong will focus on Hong Kong’s present and future, instead of solely commemoration, said the president of Lingnan University’s Student Union.

However, organizers of the vigil maintain that it is Hong Kong’s duty to hold China accountable over the massacre. Hang Tung-chow, vice president of the Alliance, argued that Hongkongers should continue taking part in the annual vigil as long as China continues denying the massacre, and should not let the Chinese government “run away”.

Though only 1,000 demonstrators — the lowest figure since 2008 — joined the annual Tiananmen crackdown protest last Sunday, Richard Tsoi, chairman of the event’s organizer, told SCMP he expected a large turnout at Victoria Park on June 4. 



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