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Tens of thousands of people took part in a dark candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of Chinese troops who opened fire on student-run democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square and surrounding areas. that the Beijing authorities were about to remain closed.
Protesters gathered in the Victoria Park Financial Park, waving candles and placards while others were gathering next to a replica of the statue of the goddess of democracy, erected in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests in Beijing and resembling the Statue of Liberty.
Nearby, a life-size replica of Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese political dissident laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize who died in 2017 while he was detained, floated in a waterway adorned with flowers.
As tens of thousands of people flocked to Hong Kong for the annual vigil, censors of Chinese Internet companies said the tools to detect and block content related to the crackdown of 1989 had reached levels of accuracy without previous.
In the former British colony of Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a formula "one country, two systems" guaranteeing rights and freedoms unheard of on the continent, 180,000 people joined the peaceful vigil, occupying six football fields.
Police authorities estimated the participation rate at 37,000.
& # 39; Scared and frightened & # 39;
Analysts believe that the high turnout is a reflection of a common concern to citizens facing a new law on extradition in China.
"Hong Kong is scared and frightened," Keith Richburg, of the University of Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera.
"People are really afraid of a new law on extradition that would come into force, which would allow people to be sent by the border into mainland China to be tried … then [worried] that China has slowly undermined Hong Kong's rights by destroying the Hong Kong legal system, "he added.
In comparison, the mainland authorities, where the anniversary remains taboo, have deployed security blankets around Tiananmen Square. China has never provided a record of victims of the violence of 1989. Rights groups and witnesses say that it could reach thousands of people.
"Everybody is worried about Tiananmen after 30 years," Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said in a few official comments on the crackdown on Sunday.
"[In the past] 30 years, China, under the Communist Party, has undergone many changes. Do you think the government was wrong with the June 4 treatment? There was a conclusion to this incident. It was a political turmoil that the central government had to calm down ", Fenghe added.
Analysts believe, however, that China's actions have not brought about good change.
Richburg said the Chinese government has managed to control dissent in a number of ways, including creating "a mbadive state of surveillance."
"They were also able to isolate themselves by wrapping themselves in the nationalist flag.Any criticism of China becomes a criticism of the Chinese people and Chinese culture.The government was also isolated by a very strong economy. strong, they have saying … let us alone to govern the country, and we will keep the economy growing … do not get involved in politics. "
The vigil Hong Kong is the largest on Chinese soil. More modest vigils are taking place in the former Portuguese territory of Macao and on the autonomous island of Taiwan, which China claims to be its own.
Protesters gathered in Victoria Park Financial Park, waving candles and placards. [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
Security cover
Tourists invaded Tiananmen Square earlier on Tuesday in a tighter security climate than usual, although most visitors approached by Reuters said they were not aware of the bloody crackdown on the protests organized by the students there. 30 years ago, or would not discuss it.
The anniversary of the crackdown is not openly spoken in China and is not officially marked by the government.
A 67-year-old man, nicknamed Li, sitting on a bench about 10 minutes walk from the square, said that he remembered the events of June 4, 1989 and their aftermath.
"I was going home after work.At Changan Avenue was strewn with burned vehicles.The People's Liberation Army killed a lot of people.It was a bloodbath", did -he declares.
When asked if he thought the government should give a full account of the violence, he replied, "What is the purpose? These students died for nothing."
Tiananmen also remains a bone of contention between China and many Western countries, who have implored Chinese leaders to explain giving the People's Liberation Army (PLA) the order to fire on their own people.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced critics of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who called on China to release all political prisoners and praised "the heroes of the Chinese people who bravely stood there 30 years in Tiananmen Square to claim their rights. "
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