Scores of Hongkongers and a pro-democracy group on Sunday marked the ninth anniversary of the death of Tiananmen Square activist Li Wangyang, shrugging off the potential risks brought about by Beijing’s national security law.

Members of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions held a moment of silence to pay tribute to Li and chanted slogans including “vindicating the June 4 crackdown” in a street in the busy commercial and residential area of Mong Kok, the site of many demonstrations during the months-long protests in 2019.

The pro-democracy union set up a booth and asked passersby to sign their names on a board in remembrance of the late activist. Signatories included a former Cable TV news reporter who interviewed Li shortly before his death on Jun. 6, 2012.

Li’s death — along with the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown — was yet another example of the misdeeds of the authoritarian regime in mainland China, the confederation’s Ng Wai-ling said.

Holding Sunday’s memorial service might involve legal risks under the national security law, but the group would continue its acts of remembrance for Li in Hong Kong, Ng said. Such risks were evident in the authorities’ recent ban on the annual candlelit vigil and other memorial events relating to the crackdown, she noted.

Li had called for Beijing to vindicate the pro-democracy protests leading up to the 1989 crackdown. Li was found dead by a window in a hospital in Hunan on June 6, 2012. He had a rope around his neck tied to a bar and both his feet were on the ground. Mainland authorities said he committed suicide, a claim rejected by Li’s family.

Some Hongkongers who placed flowers at the Mongkok booth on Sunday said they did not believe that Li killed himself.

A hairdresser surnamed Cheung said Li had shown an eagerness to go on living by overcoming the torment of losing both his sight and hearing.

The circumstances surrounding his death, including the fact that Li’s feet were on the ground, suggested that the activist’s death was not suicide, a worker in the city’s finance industy surnamed Ng said.

Another Hongkonger, surnamed Wong, said he would tell his son about the events relating to Li as he highly respected the activist’s efforts in pushing for democracy and freedom in China. He said he hoped the city’s younger generations would continue to learn about these incidents.

At another event held by the confederation to remember Li on Sunday evening, Chow Hang-tung, an organizer of the city’s annual candlelit vigil to commemorate Tiananmen victims, said Li’s determination was an inspiration for Hongkongers in the fight for freedom and democracy. Chow was out on bail after having earlier been arrested for allegedly advertising an unauthorized assembly.

Li was one of many silent heroes who died in the pursuit of democracy and Hongkongers should not forget them, said David Chan, a member of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance.

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