Security tight in China and Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

BEIJING/HONG KONG - Security was tight and access restricted to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, the 35th anniversary of the crackdown, while Hong Kong also increased policing as activists in Taiwan and elsewhere prepared to mark the date with vigils.

Chinese tanks rolled into the square before dawn on June 4, 1989, to end weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers. Television news images of a lone Chinese man in a white shirt standing in front of a column of tanks spread around the world and became the iconic image of the demonstrations.

Decades after the military crackdown, rights activists say the demonstrators’ original goals – including a free press and freedom of speech – remain distant, and June 4 is still a taboo topic in China.

The ruling Communist Party has never released a death toll, though rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into the thousands.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said in a statement on June 4 that “the memory of June 4th will not disappear in the torrent of history”.

Mr Lai, who was inaugurated in May

as the leader of the democratic island that China claims as its own, added that Taiwan would “respond to authoritarianism with freedom”.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters that Beijing “firmly opposes anyone smearing China and using June 4 as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs”.

Taiwan is the only part of the Chinese-speaking world where June 4 can be remembered openly, with a commemoration event planned in Taipei, the capital. Others are planned in countries such as Britain, Canada and the United States.

In Hong Kong, police officers tightened security around downtown Victoria Park, where large June 4 candlelight vigils had been held annually before tougher new national security laws took effect in recent years.

Police took away several individuals near the park, among them an elderly man holding up a poster commemorating June 4, a Reuters witness said.

Performance artist Sanmu Chen was taken away on the night of June 3 by police as he attempted a mime performance near a police van. Mr Chen was later released.  

Another activist, 68-year-old Alexandra Wong, was surrounded by around a dozen officers when she held up a bouquet of flowers and shouted, “The people will not forget,” before being taken away in a police van.

Over the past week, Hong Kong police have arrested eight people for sedition under a new national security law, including activist Chow Hang-tung, stemming from what media said were online posts linked to June 4.

“There are still forces that attempt to undermine Hong Kong’s stability and security,” Hong Kong leader John Lee told reporters, without mentioning June 4 specifically. He also warned of a need to “be on guard all the time against attempts to cause trouble”.

In Beijing, an official website for Tiananmen Square posted a notice earlier saying the square would be closed for the entire day on June 4, and that those who had bought tickets for the square could get refunds.

Time slots for visits to Tiananmen Square also were not available for June 4 on its official WeChat mini-app. Chang’an Avenue, the road lining the square, was closed to pedestrians and cyclists on the evening of June 3, according to an eyewitness.

The official social media account of the Beijing subway network announced that an exit of Tiananmen East station would be closed from June 2 to 5.

Increased security

Small groups of “stability maintenance” volunteers – retirees with red armbands – have been keeping watch in neighbourhoods in central Beijing since last week. Guards have also been stationed on pedestrian bridges, a regular practice during politically sensitive periods.

On Chinese social media platforms including WeChat and Douyin, users were unable to change their profile photos, according to online posts and Reuters tests.

In the past, some online users have altered profile names and pictures with symbolic images such as candles around June 4.

“Thirty-five years have passed, and the authorities remain silent. All that can be seen on the internet is ‘A Concise History Of The Communist Party Of China’, which says that a tragic incident was caused by the student movement in 1989,” wrote the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of mostly China-based survivors and families of the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.

“We cannot accept or tolerate such statements that ignore the facts.”

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong highlighted the brutal force used against student protesters 35 years ago, and said her country remained concerned about China’s ongoing restrictions on individual rights.

“We call on China to cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society, and to release those detained for peacefully expressing their political views,” she said in a statement. REUTERS