Eutrusca
05-06-2005, 18:56
NOTE: This brings the entire Tiananmen incident back to mind. I well remember the video and photograph of the lone individual blocking the tank with his own body.
Thousands at Hong Kong Vigil for Tiananmen Anniversary (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/international/asia/05hong.html?th&emc=th)
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 5, 2005
HONG KONG, June 4 - Tens of thousands of residents lighted white candles at a vigil in one of Hong Kong's largest urban parks on Saturday night to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings, the latest sign of the emotional hold the event still has here and in mainland China.
This year's anniversary follows the death on Jan. 17 of Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as general secretary of the Communist Party after the 1989 crackdown for his reluctance to use force against students and other protesters in and around the square.
Organizers put the crowd here at 45,000, while the police estimated it at about half that size. The crowd was visibly smaller than in the last two years, when many in Hong Kong were deeply unhappy with economic stagnation here and the local political leadership.
But the turnout was similar to crowds that showed up in the years immediately preceding the Hong Kong government's unsuccessful attempt in 2003 to push through stringent internal security laws sought by Beijing. Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.
Commemorating the killings has become a part of many family traditions here. Samy Fung, a 42-year-old elementary school teacher who has attended every vigil since 1989, brought her 8-year-old son, Ho-cheong, to the demonstration and said he had come every year since he was a baby.
"I remember a picture of a man standing in front of a tank and blocking it," Ho-cheong said, describing the famous photograph taken long before he was born.
Patrick Leung, 55, an interior designer, said he had also attended every year. "Hong Kong people are bound by this emotional event," he said.
This year's vigil coincides with a furor over a secret book reportedly written by a retired Communist Party official, Zong Fengmin, based on conversations he had with Mr. Zhao. Mr. Zhao, now regarded sympathetically by many advocates of greater democracy in China, reportedly criticizes the crackdown in the book; he had already been known to be critical of other Chinese leaders' handling of events in 1989, however.
A foreign correspondent for Singapore's leading newspaper, The Straits Times, was detained in southern China on April 22 and has been held incommunicado since then, after what his wife has described as an effort to obtain a copy of the book.
China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the journalist, Ching Cheong, had confessed to accepting large sums of money to spy for an overseas intelligence agency. His wife, Mary Lau, dismissed the allegation on Friday.
Thousands at Hong Kong Vigil for Tiananmen Anniversary (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/international/asia/05hong.html?th&emc=th)
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 5, 2005
HONG KONG, June 4 - Tens of thousands of residents lighted white candles at a vigil in one of Hong Kong's largest urban parks on Saturday night to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings, the latest sign of the emotional hold the event still has here and in mainland China.
This year's anniversary follows the death on Jan. 17 of Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as general secretary of the Communist Party after the 1989 crackdown for his reluctance to use force against students and other protesters in and around the square.
Organizers put the crowd here at 45,000, while the police estimated it at about half that size. The crowd was visibly smaller than in the last two years, when many in Hong Kong were deeply unhappy with economic stagnation here and the local political leadership.
But the turnout was similar to crowds that showed up in the years immediately preceding the Hong Kong government's unsuccessful attempt in 2003 to push through stringent internal security laws sought by Beijing. Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.
Commemorating the killings has become a part of many family traditions here. Samy Fung, a 42-year-old elementary school teacher who has attended every vigil since 1989, brought her 8-year-old son, Ho-cheong, to the demonstration and said he had come every year since he was a baby.
"I remember a picture of a man standing in front of a tank and blocking it," Ho-cheong said, describing the famous photograph taken long before he was born.
Patrick Leung, 55, an interior designer, said he had also attended every year. "Hong Kong people are bound by this emotional event," he said.
This year's vigil coincides with a furor over a secret book reportedly written by a retired Communist Party official, Zong Fengmin, based on conversations he had with Mr. Zhao. Mr. Zhao, now regarded sympathetically by many advocates of greater democracy in China, reportedly criticizes the crackdown in the book; he had already been known to be critical of other Chinese leaders' handling of events in 1989, however.
A foreign correspondent for Singapore's leading newspaper, The Straits Times, was detained in southern China on April 22 and has been held incommunicado since then, after what his wife has described as an effort to obtain a copy of the book.
China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the journalist, Ching Cheong, had confessed to accepting large sums of money to spy for an overseas intelligence agency. His wife, Mary Lau, dismissed the allegation on Friday.