Tiananmen Square 25th Anniversary: Huge Candlelight Vigil in Hong Kong, Nothing in Beijing

INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  TIMES

Human Rights

By David Sim
June 4, 2014 16:37 BST

Large crowds gathered in Hong Kong's Victoria Park for a candlelight vigil to remember those killed in the crackdown by Chinese tanks and troops on protests at Tiananmen Square 25 years ago. Tens of thousands of people held candles aloft, turning the vast area into a sea of flickering light.

Tens of thousands of people participate in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria 

Park to mark the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on the pro-democracy 

movement at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989Reuters

Activists laid a wreath at a makeshift memorial as the names and biographical details of people believed to have been killed in the crackdown were read out. Organisers said more than 180,000 people took part, with many spilling into the streets around the park's main entrance.

This was the only acknowledgement of the event on Chinese soil.

Thousands of people thronged Victoria Park in Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary

 of the Tiananmen Square protestsGetty

A student wearing a T-shirt with the date of the massacre written on it prepares to sing

 to commemorate the anniversaryAFP

Hong Kong police officers discuss crowd control tactics as pro-democracy activists

 confront a pro-China groupAFP

A woman mourns those killed at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, during a candlelight

 vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria ParkReuters

Light rain falls on a member of the crowd during a candlelight vigil on the 25th anniversary

 of the Tiananmen Square protests in Hong KongGetty

People take part in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong - the only commemoration of the

 event on Chinese soilGetty

Student protesters walk with a wreath to commemorate those who were killed during 

the military crackdownReuters

A miniature Goddess of Democracy candlestick is displayed during a vigil in Hong KongReuters

China allows no public discussion of the events of June 3-4, 1989, when soldiers backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers fought their way into the heart of Beijing, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of unarmed protesters and onlookers.

In Beijing, scores of police and paramilitary troops patrolled Tiananmen Square and surrounding streets, stopping vehicles and demanding identification from passers-by. Chinese censors filtered domestic blogs and social media websites of comments marking the crackdown.

Chinese Paramilitary police officers salute each other as they stand guard below a portrait 

of the late leader Mao Tse-tung on Tiananmen SquareGetty

Chinese Paramilitary police officers stand guard near Tiananmen Square, as the 25th

anniversary of the crackdown goes unmarked in BeijingGetty