HONG KONG/TAIPEI – The Hong Kong police searched and detained scores of people as well as arrested four for “seditious” intent on Sunday, as the authorities tightened security over the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. 

Restrictions in Hong Kong have stifled what were once the biggest vigils marking the bloody crackdown by Chinese troops on pro-democracy demonstrators.

This has left cities such as Taipei, London, New York and Berlin to keep alive the memory on the June 4 anniversary. Commemorations were expected on Sunday in at least 30 places in North America, Europe and Asia. 

In a statement, the police said four people had been arrested for seditious intent and four detained for “breaching public peace” near Victoria Park where, for years after 1989, activists and other people had gathered to mark the Tiananmen Square anniversary. 

This year, the authorities gave permission for pro-Beijing groups to hold a food carnival in part of the park, while sealing off other areas with barricades. 

Hundreds of police officers conducted stop and search operations, and took scores of people away.

Those who were detained included activist Alexandra Wong, 67, who carried a bouquet of flowers, and a man who held a copy of 35th Of May, a play on the Tiananmen crackdown.

Hong Kong activists say such police action is part of a broad campaign by China to end dissent in the city, which was promised special freedoms for 50 years under a “one country, two systems” formula when Britain handed back the colony to Beijing in 1997.

Security is significantly tighter across Hong Kong in 2023, with up to 6,000 police officers deployed, including riot and anti-terrorism officers, according to local media.

Senior officials have warned people to abide by the law.

However, they have refused to clarify if such commemoration activities are illegal under a national security law China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 after mass anti-government protests.

In Beijing, Tiananmen Square was thronged with tourists taking pictures under the watchful eyes of the police and other personnel but with no obvious sign of stepped-up security.

A group of relatives called the Tiananmen Mothers said the anguish has never ended. “Though 34 years have passed, for us, family members of those killed, the pain of losing our loved ones in that one night has tormented us to this day,” the group said in a statement released by New York-based watchdog Human Rights in China.

‘Clear conclusion’

Despite the warnings, some individuals, including some bookshop owners, have been quietly marking June 4.

Jailed Hong Kong activist Chow Hang-tung, one of the leaders of a group called The Alliance, which used to organise Hong Kong’s annual June 4 vigils before it was disbanded in 2021, said on Facebook that she would hold a 34-hour hunger strike in prison.

In mainland China, any mention of the Tiananmen Square crackdown – where troops opened fire on pro-democracy protesters, killing hundreds if not thousands, according to rights groups – is taboo and the subject is censored.

When asked about China’s response to events around the world to mark the anniversary, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told a regular briefing in Beijing on Friday that the government had already “come to a clear conclusion about the political turmoil in the late 1980s”.

In democratically governed Taiwan, the only part of the Chinese-speaking world where the anniversary can be marked freely and openly, activists prepared a memorial at Taipei’s Liberty Square with flowers of mourning and a “Pillar of Shame” statue.

Vice-President William Lai, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate for the election in January 2024, wrote on his Facebook page that what happened in Beijing in 1989 must be discussed and remembered.

“The event commemorating June 4 has continued to be held in Taipei, which shows that democracy and authoritarianism are the biggest differences between Taiwan and China,” he said.

In Sydney, dozens of demonstrators rallied at the Town Hall, chanting “free Hong Kong”, while holding up yellow umbrellas and placards in remembrance of 1989. REUTERS