Hong Kong drives memories underground

Hong Kong authorities yesterday detained multiple people as they pounced on any attempt at public commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, as China vies to remove all reminders of the deadly event.

On June 4, 1989, Beijing sent troops and tanks to break up peaceful protests, crushing demonstrations calling for political change and curbs on official corruption.

Hundreds, by some estimates more than 1,000, were killed in the crackdown.

Discussion of what happened is all but forbidden on the mainland.

Semi-autonomous Hong Kong had been the one place in China where large-scale remembrance was still tolerated -- until two years ago when Beijing imposed a national security law to snuff out dissent after huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

AFP reporters saw at least half a dozen people being taken away by police yesterday, the majority in the evening. Authorities had warned that "participating in an unauthorised assembly" risked the maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

They also closed large parts of Victoria Park, once the site of packed annual candlelight vigils.

China has gone to exhaustive lengths to erase the crackdown from collective memory, omitting it from history textbooks and scrubbing references to it from the Chinese internet and social media platforms.

Multiple Western Consulates General in Hong Kong yesterday posted Tiananmen tributes on social media, despite local media reports that they had been warned by the city's Chinese foreign ministry office to refrain from doing so.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday released a statement terming the crackdown "a brutal assault".

"The efforts of these brave individuals will not be forgotten. Each year, we honour and remember those who stood up for human rights and fundamental freedoms," he added.

A spokesperson for the city's Chinese foreign ministry office said it "firmly rejected and strongly condemned" Blinken and other US officials' statements.