30th Anniversary of Tiananmen: Thousands of people hold a grand vigil in Hong Kong

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hong Kong to mark the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

Hong Kong and Macau are the only places in China where you can commemorate the activists killed in 1989.

China has never said how many people died in the crackdown, but hundreds were reportedly killed.

The organizers say 180,000 people took part in a vigil, centered in Victoria Park in the city.

But the police estimated the number of participants at less than 40,000.

Elsewhere in China, the authorities have even banned oblique references to the crackdown that occurred after weeks of mbad demonstrations tolerated by the government. It is estimated that the number of people gathered on and around the square has reached one million.

• What were the protests about Tiananmen Square talking about?
• Tiananmen: the great act of forgetfulness of China

Hundreds of security personnel and police guarded the square Tuesday in Beijing.

Refuse to forget

by Grace Tsoi, BBC World Service, Hong Kong

Victoria Park Hong Kong is again a sea of ​​candles as far as the eye can see.

The crowd, often dressed in black, usually remains silent while she holds her candles in mourning. Some cry. Between the protest songs, they chant "the people will not forget".

The crowd applauds and applauds when Liane Lee, who took part in the 1989 protests, shouts, "We refuse to forget, we refuse to believe the lies".

Standing watching, it's Teresa Chan. She has attended the commemoration each year since 1990, except once when she was sick.

"I wanted to go to Beijing to be part of the movement but I could not," she said. "I never imagined it would end like that, it's very hard to forget."

But there are also new faces in the crowd this year.

Mrs. Leung, who is in her thirties, said that she had decided to come for the first time because she worried about Hong Kong's future.

"I am very angry at what the Chinese government is doing here," she said.

Among the flowers and candles of remembrance, there are posters protesting the proposed amendments to the extradition laws to Mainland China. Many fear that the changes will lead to further erosion of civil liberties here in Hong Kong.

Here in Victoria Park, are also residents of mainland China, such as Mr. Zeng, who went to Hong Kong with his wife and 11-year-old daughter to attend tonight's event. .

His daughter says that it is a revealing experience. "I am here to learn the true story of China, now I have the impression that China is no better than other countries," she said.

Multimedia playback is not supported on your device

The protests in Hong Kong are taking place at a sensitive moment for Hong Kong's leadership, with a public reaction against a bill that would allow fugitives captured in the city to be extradited to mainland China.

Small vigilantes are also expected at 64 km in downtown Macao and on the autonomous island of Taiwan.

Tiananmen's birthday caused a war of words between Washington and Beijing. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized China's human rights record and asked it to finally reveal how many people died during the crackdown.

In response, a spokesman for the Chinese Embbady in Washington said his remarks were "an affront to the Chinese people."