At least five Western diplomats made a surprise visit to Victoria Park in Hong Kong on June 4, the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The officials include a European Union office’s deputy head, a German consul general, and a Dutch consul general.
The CCP’s foreign ministry arm in Hong Kong protested against the officials’ visit.
For decades, the vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park used to draw thousands of people each June 4 to remember the Tiananmen Square massacre, during which the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) troops opened fire on student-led pro-democracy protesters, resulting in hundreds, if not thousands, dead.
But the vigil has vanished under the shadow of a national security law imposed by the CCP in 2020. Critics say its disappearance has illustrated that the freedoms promised to be kept intact in Hong Kong for 50 years when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 have been drastically eroded.
After the enactment of the law, the group that organized the vigil disbanded. Three of its former leaders, including activist Chow Hang-tung, were charged with subversion under the sweeping law. Tiananmen-related statues were also removed from universities.
Some Hong Kong residents remembered the event privately, running 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) on June 3 or sharing Tiananmen-related content on social media.
Commemorative events have grown overseas in response to the silencing of voices in Hong Kong.
U.S. lawmakers, former student leaders of the Tiananmen movement, and younger activists from mainland China and Hong Kong gathered at commemorations on June 4 in Washington. More than 100 people also held a candlelight vigil on the night of June 3 at the foot of a replica of the “Goddess of Democracy,” a statue of a woman holding a torch that was erected on the square during the 1989 protest.
“What has happened in China under the circumstances in the past 35 years has not been positive in terms of global democracy, in terms of human rights, in terms of promoting democratic freedoms,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), former House speaker and a longtime supporter of China’s pro-democracy cause.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the United States stands in solidarity with those who continue the struggle for human rights and freedoms, adding that the sacrifice of the protesters 35 years ago would not be forgotten.
In London, about 300 people outside the Chinese Embassy remembered the dead by turning on the flashlights of their mobile phones in place of candles. Some protesters read out a long list of names of those who died in the crackdown, while others chanted “Free China” and “Free Hong Kong.”
In Taiwan, people laid flowers and put electronic candles on the numbers 8964—representing June 4, 1989—on a banner spread on the ground in Taipei, the capital.
“As long as other places can still protest, we must continue to protest,” resident Leo Chiang said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.