To mark Beijing's Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, thousands of people attend an annual candlelight vigil at the Victoria Park in Hong Kong, June 4, 2015.
Last updated on: June 04, 2015 11:04 AM
HONG KONG—In Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, people each year gather for an annual candlelight vigil to remember the victims of China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. It is typically the largest such gathering for Tiananmen because China bans such demonstrations in the mainland.
Last year’s vigil drew 180,000 people. Tens of thousands of people packed Hong Kong's Victoria Park for the rally.
Some protesters say this year’s vigil has greater resonance because it comes just months after mass pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and the city remains divided over demands for universal suffrage.
U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs issued a statement marking the somber anniversary and commending Hong Kong residents for their "courageous protest".
" This year Hong Kong’s stand for Tiananmen bears even greater significance, as the Legislative Council debates electoral reforms dictated by Beijing. The struggle in Hong Kong today for greater autonomy echoes the call for fundamental rights and freedoms sounded in Tiananmen Square 26 years ago.
Just as the Chinese government gains nothing by denying the events of June 4, they gain nothing by crushing the aspirations of their own citizens in Hong Kong," Engel said in a statement.
