當年今日
關於我們

Police turn Victoria Park into Hong Kong’s very own Tiananmen Square

蘋果日報 2021/06/05 06:59


Victoria Park has for decades been candlelit by throngs of Hongkongers in the annual June 4 vigil for victims of Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on students. On Friday, it reminded one vigil organizer more of Tiananmen Square itself: locked down by police to prevent any remembrance.
Hong Kong was once the only place on Chinese soil where people could openly commemorate the Tiananmen massacre. But in a sign of the rapid deterioration in the freedom of speech in the city, the gathering at Victoria Park was banned for the second straight year.
Authorities cited the COVID-19 pandemic, despite new cases having all but dried up. With a beefed-up police presence, anyone testing the banning order might run afoul of the Beijing-imposed national security law.
Victoria Park had been cordoned off before Friday, while one of the rally organizers, Chow Hang-tung, who sometimes goes by the first name Tonyee, was arrested just hours before the vigil would have been due to begin in past years.
Four organizers of last year’s event, including prominent activist Joshua Wong, were sentenced to between four and 10 months in jail last month for taking part in an unauthorized assembly. Meanwhile, the trial against the 20 other defendants in the same case, including Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, was adjourned to Feb. 5 next year.
As with Tiananmen, Victoria Park for many represents more than just the land it occupies in Hong Kong’s crowded Causeway Bay commercial and residential district.
“Entry to Tiananmen Square is barred every June 4 to ensure no one thinks about what happened 32 years ago,” said Chow’s fellow organizer, Chiu Yan-loy. “Now, the [regime] wants to extend this practice to Victoria Park.”
The candles lit on June 4 at Victoria Park over the past 30 years have shone out as a beacon of democracy in Hong Kong, showing that Hong Kong people still had freedom of speech and expression, Chiu said. Now, the very park has come to symbolize “retrogression in freedom of assembly in Hong Kong,” he said.
Click here for Chinese version
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE
To download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play