BEIJING (AP) — Checkpoints and police vehicles were set up at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Tuesday. China Hong Kong police have tried to silence the 35th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests, swarming small groups of people trying to hold protests and memorials as the movement spread beyond mainland China.
China has long erased from public memory the military’s crackdown on months of protests in the heart of the capital, when an estimated 180,000 troops and police arrived in tanks and armored vehicles and opened fire on crowds trying to stop them advancing on student-led demonstrations in the square.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are believed to have been killed in the overnight operation, which ended on the morning of June 4, 1989.
This marked a turning point in modern Chinese history, as hardliners in the Communist Party embraced control rather than political reform.
The economy has boomed in the decades since, transforming the once-impoverished country into the world’s second-largest, but social controls have been tightened since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
Across China, the anniversary remains a taboo and heavily censored topic, with any mentions of it on social media quickly deleted.
Life appeared to be normal in Beijing on Tuesday, with tourists lining Tiananmen Square and the streets leading to the gates of the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace opposite. The nearest subway exit was closed, as was the observation deck at the top of Tiananmen, according to a visitor registration website.
“The Chinese government has long since reached a clear conclusion about the political turmoil in the late 1980s,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said, without elaborating. Asked about statements by Western governments on the anniversary, he added: “We firmly oppose those who use it as an excuse to attack and slander China and interfere in its internal affairs.”
Tiananmen Mothers, a group formed by the families of the victims, has launched an online appeal for the Chinese government to make public the names and total number of victims, pay compensation to the victims and their families, and hold those responsible legally accountable.
“The June 4 tragedy is a historic tragedy that the Chinese government must face up to and explain to its people, and some government officials at the time should be held legally accountable for the indiscriminate killing of innocent people,” the group said in a letter signed by 114 bereaved families and published on a website that is blocked in China.
Tiananmen Square memorials were also removed in Hong Kong, long the only place such ceremonies were held in China, and a carnival organised by pro-Beijing groups was held on Tuesday in a park that for decades had been the site of large candlelight vigils to mark the anniversary.
Many police officers were deployed.
An elderly man was seen being taken away holding up two handwritten posters, one of which read: “Remember the 89s! Mourn the 64s!” Hong Kong media reported that activist Alexandra Wong, known as “Grandma Wong,” was also taken away after shouting the slogan.
An Associated Press reporter saw another woman being taken away after the search, and Hong Kong online media reported a fourth person was taken away in a police vehicle, for reasons unknown in both cases.
“It’s not the same as before,” said Hong Kong resident Keith Law. “A lot of people, including me, seem to be acting as if nothing is happening.”
After dark, two people – one lit a candle and two turned on their smartphone lights – were quickly cordoned off and questioned by police in three separate incidents outside the park. They were eventually released.
“My heart is not dead yet,” said Edward Yang, a former vigil attendee.
Rows of digital candles lit up dozens of windows at the US consulate at night, and the British consulate posted an image on social media platform X of a hand holding up a lit smartphone and the Roman numerals “VIIV,” for June 4. Hong Kong was once a British colony.
Some Hong Kong residents remembered the events personally by running 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) on Monday or sharing content about the Tiananmen Square massacre on social media.
One bookshop, which had a “35/5” sign on its front – an euphemism for the date of the crackdown on May 35th – posted on Instagram that officers were outside the shop for an hour on Sunday, taking down customers’ ID details.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee did not directly answer a question Tuesday about whether residents could still publicly mourn the crackdown. He urged residents to remain vigilant against any attempts to stir up trouble.
“The threats to national security are real,” Lee said at a weekly briefing. “These activities can occur suddenly, and different people may use different excuses to hide their intentions.”
The commemorative event Grown overseas In response to the silencing of voices in Hong Kong, more than 100 people gathered in Washington, DC, on Monday to light candles at the base of a replica of a statue erected in the square during the 1989 protests – a woman holding a torch and known as the Goddess of Democracy.
“The Chinese people can’t speak for themselves, so we have to speak for them,” said political commentator Gordon Chan.
Those sentiments were echoed in Taiwan, where people laid flowers and lit electronic candles on a banner unfurled on the ground in the capital Taipei with the numbers “8964” – representing June 4, 1989 – written on it. Taiwan is a self-governing democratic island claimed by China.
“As long as protests continue elsewhere, we have to continue our protests,” said resident Leo Chan.
___
Leung reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press writers Emily Wang Fujiyama in Beijing, Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan and Didi Tang in Washington, D.C., contributed.
