Families of the victims of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown may face more difficulties this year to commemorate their loved ones who died 31 years ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Every year, relatives lay wreaths at the Wan’an public cemetery for the students who died in the crackdown in 1989. The students were protesting in Tiananmen Square for democratic reform before being quashed by the military. Commemoration of the crackdown in mainland China is often under heavy government surveillance.

You Weijie, a spokesperson for victims group Tiananmen Mothers, told Commercial Radio in Hong Kong that the pandemic hasadded uncertainty to the annual commemoration. However, they would still go ahead and would read out a statement at the cemetery on the anniversary on June 4.

Meanwhile, Humanitarian China, a group established by former Tiananmen protest leader Zhou Fengsuo, hosted an online commemoration on Sunday. Other protest leaders such as Wang Dan and Wuer Kaixi attended via a video call and a video made by Tiananmen Mothers was uploaded to YouTube.

One of the mothers featured in the video was Zhang Xianling, whose son Wang Nan was shot in the head in the crackdown. He was only 19 years old when he died.

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