BEIJING — Checkpoints and police vehicles were set up at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Tuesday as China sought to silence the 35th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong police arrested four people and detained several others who tried to take part in protests and memorial ceremonies as the protests spread beyond mainland China.
China has long concealed from its public 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.
Police took away a woman wearing a T-shirt with the Roman numerals “8964” written on it, and detained an elderly man who was holding up two handwritten posters, one of which read: “Remember the 89! Mourn the 64!” Hong Kong media reported that activist Alexandra Wong, known as “Grandma Wong,” was also taken away after shouting slogans.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed another woman being searched and then taken away.
“It’s not the same as it was 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 the other turned on their phone lights, were quickly cordoned off by police and questioned outside the park. They were eventually released.
“My heart is not dead yet,” said Edward Yang, a former vigil attendee.
Police said late Tuesday they had arrested four people, aged between 23 and 69, including a 68-year-old woman who was detained on suspicion of sedition under Hong Kong’s new national security law. Police said the woman had been chanting slogans in public. Local newspapers, citing unidentified sources, reported the woman was Wong.
Two others were charged with assaulting a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place, while one was arrested on suspicion of common assault. Police have not released their identities.
Authorities also said five other people suspected of “breaching the public peace” were taken in for further investigation but have all since been released.
Rows of digital candles were lit in dozens of windows at the US consulate, and the British consulate posted an image on social media platform X of a hand holding up a lit smartphone with the Roman numerals “VIIV” for June 4. Hong Kong is a former 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.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee did not directly answer a question Tuesday about whether residents could still publicly mourn the crackdown.
“The threat to national security is real,” Lee said.
In response to the silencing of voices in Hong Kong, commemorations are on the rise overseas.
More than 100 people, including US lawmakers and former student leaders of the Tiananmen Square movement, gathered in Washington to light candles at the base of a replica of the “Goddess of Democracy” torch-bearing statue that was erected in the square during the 1989 protests.
“What’s happened in China over the last 35 years has not been a good thing in terms of advancing democracy, human rights and democratic freedoms around the world,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi, a former House speaker and longtime supporter of China’s pro-democracy movement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the United States stands in solidarity with those who continue to fight for human rights and freedoms, and will never forget the sacrifices of the protesters 35 years ago.
In London, about 300 people gathered outside the Chinese embassy to remember the victims, ignoring candles with cellphone flashlights. Some demonstrators read out a long list of the names of those killed in the crackdown, while others chanted “Liberate China” and “Liberate Hong Kong.”
In Taiwan, a self-ruling democratic island claimed by China, people laid flowers and electronic candles on a banner unfurled on the ground in the capital Taipei with the numbers “8964” – representing June 4, 1989 – written on it.
“As long as protests continue elsewhere, we have to continue our protests,” said resident Leo Chan.
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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.
