HONG KONG—Thousands marched through Hong Kong streets on May 31 to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and to protest for democracy and human rights.
The march was held by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The president and vice president of the Alliance held a giant theme banner while leading the procession, which began at 3pm.
Besides the traditional banners reading “Vindicate June 4” and “End One-Party Dictatorship and Return Political Power to the People,” there were also yellow umbrellas, yellow ribbons, and banners related to the Umbrella Movement for democracy, as well as requests for human right activists in mainland China to be set free. Many pan-democratic members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council also participated in the march.
The procession chanted slogans such as “Vindicate June 4!” and “Leung Chun-ying, step down!” This refers to Hong Kong’s unpopular Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students and many student unions decided not to join the event, but many college students still came, most of whom have participated in the Umbrella Movement.
Dozens of members of the Hong Kong Federation of Social Work Students, an organization formed by students who major in social work in Hong Kong universities, took to the street.
An 18-year-old member, Mr. Sin, said that in 26 years the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never admitted to its crime of killing. He hopes history will not be forgotten.
“In fact, everybody should learn about the massacre, as Hong Kong is part of China,” Sin said.
He added that there are certain similarities between the June 4, 1989 movement and the Umbrella Movement.
“Students’ movements account for a large portion of social movements,” Sin said. “This is why we frequently refer to the June 4 movement to evaluate the current social movements. We need to inherit this spirit of student movements, which is fearless enough to confront the powers and courageous enough to speak out for Hong Kong.”
High school students from Scholarism also participated in the march. Scholarism convener Joshua Wong said that the June 4 movement is Hong Kong’s political watershed “which contributed to writing the Basic Law or the controversy that formed a significant future problem in Hong Kong.”
