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Reuters / A girl takes part in a candlelight vigil to mark the 28th anniversary of the crackdown of the pro-democracy movement at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, China June 4, 2017.
Police detained at least 11 Chinese activists after a pair of small events to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, according to human rights groups and activists.
Meanwhile, thousands gathered in Hong Kong for the annual candlelight vigil to remember the events of June 4, 1989, which have gained added poignancy in recent years in view of a continuing struggle for democracy there.
Tiananmen Square and the rest of Beijing are habitually placed under tight security for the anniversary, but activist Li Xiaoling apparently had her photograph taken at the square in the early hours of June 4. In it, she is holding up a sign bearing an image of her with a patch over her left eye, after an operation last month for injuries allegedly inflicted by police.
Ms. Li and fellow activists Li Zhou and Pu Yongzhu were taken to the Xicheng police station in Beijing, Amnesty International and human rights activists said.
Activists also commemorated the anniversary in Zhuzhou in southern Hunan province.
At least eight members of the group have been taken away by police, while at least two are unreachable, according to activists and rights groups.
Tens of thousands of troops and tanks converged on Tiananmen Square to quash months of protests on the night of June 3-4, 1989. Several hundred people were killed — possibly several thousand — and more than 1,600 people nationwide were subsequently jailed. The final prisoner, Miao Deshun, a factory worker from Beijing, was released in October, with serious mental and physical health problems.
Despite those tiny protests, few young Chinese people appear to have much knowledge or even interest in the events of June 4, 1989, according to Louisa Lim, author of “The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited.” That has followed nearly three decades of propaganda and censorship by the Communist Party aimed at suppressing and rewriting history.
“Those who do know about it tend to be largely supportive of the crackdown, because they believe this prevailing view that the party did what was necessary to ensure stability and that stability has paved the way for the country’s three decades of economic development,” she said.
It is a very different story in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands gather every year to commemorate the crackdown. This year, there is tension in Hong Kong as another important anniversary approaches, the 20th anniversary of the territory’s handover from British rule on July 1, with China looking to extend its political control over it and a small but growing cohort of citizens calling for outright independence from Chinese rule — while others maintain their demand for democracy for the territory within China.
“I came to the candlelight vigil not only for mourning, but also because I believe that with the situation in 1989 and the situation nowadays, we are also facing the same enemy and facing the same authoritarian regime,” said Agnes Chow, a student leader involved in Hong Kong’s 2014 uprising for greater democracy.
By Simon Denyer
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