Demonstrators remember Tiananmen

Vigils were held on Saturday in Hong Kong and Taipei to mark the anniversary of the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989 that resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Tens of thousands of people streamed into Victoria Park in Hong Kong. Organisers said the event sent a message to the Chinese government that they cannot suppress the memory of June the 4th.

In Taiwan, where several of the original organisers of the 1989 protests are exiled, people gathered in the capital, Taipei.

One woman explained why they think it is important not the let the matter die.

“After so many years the Chinese government now uses the measure of harsh suppression on individuals to warn anyone who wants to express political opinions, even when sometimes ordinary people are just appealing about their house being torn down or their land being taken away. If the government thinks there is a political intention then everyone becomes afraid.”

The events of 1989 were not publicly marked on mainland China. The events remain taboo for the ruling Communist Party, made more nervous by this year’s Arab uprisings.

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