HONG KONG - A STEADY stream of Hong Kong citizens keen to mark the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests began four hours before the candlelight vigil started on Thursday.

The crowd was still pouring in 40 minutes after the lighting of the first candle.

While police in mainland China stamped out the merest hint that the June 4 crackdown would be commemorated, a sea of lights held by mourners stretched from one side of Hong Kong's Victoria Park to the other.

Endless lines of people shuffled out of the city's subway system and off buses to mark the annual vigil, provoking strong emotions among campaigners.

'I'm deeply moved, it was proof that Hong Kong people still preserve their conscience,' said Debby Chan, aged 28, a campaigner on behalf of mothers of the victims of the crackdown.

Police and organisers disagreed on precise numbers - 62,800 against 150,000 respectively. The larger-than-expected turnout provided a boost to the city's democracy movement, which in recent years has lost its potency in the face of strong economic growth.

Many among those attending were dressed in white, the Chinese colour of mourning, or wore one of dozens of specially-made T-shirts, some with images of tanks.

A montage of shots from the 1989 demonstrations and crackdown was shown, including pictures of the bloodied casualties and the military vehicles rolling into Tiananmen Square. Hundreds, possibly thousands died when the demonstrations were crushed.

A warbled recording of former Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang, who was purged during the protests by those who saw him as too sympathetic to the students, brought a hush to the huge crowd.

Wreaths were laid and remembrance songs sung. A replica of the 'Goddess of Democracy' sculpture, which was built and placed in Tiananmen Square by students in 1989 and became a key image of the demonstrations, stood in the middle of the crowd. -- AFP