Tiananmen: Arrests reported in Hong Kong on anniversary of massacre

June 4th, 2022
By BBC

Large parts of Victoria Park, which in the past was the site of candlelit vigils marking the anniversary of the massacre, have been closed off.

Hundreds of police, some with sniffer dogs, were also seen patrolling the area around the park in the evening.

Dozens of people – in an apparent attempt to replicate the annual candlelit vigil – turned on their mobile phone torches in an area near to the park on Saturday. They were then warned by police to turn them off, Reuters news agency reports.

Officials earlier warned that any unauthorised assembly could see demonstrators facing prison sentences of up to five years.

“For 33 years it has always been peaceful, but today it’s like [the police] are facing a big enemy,” one activist, Chan Po-ying, told AFP. “The hearts of people will live on.”

The actions of the authorities have been seen by activists as part of China’s broader agenda to snuff out political dissent in Hong Kong.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen criticised the “collective memory of 4 June being systematically erased in Hong Kong”.

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