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Tiananmen Square crackdown
Hong KongPolitics

‘Record turnout of over 180,000’ at Hong Kong candlelight vigil to mark Tiananmen crackdown’s 30th anniversary but for many, city’s controversial extradition bill was extra spur

  • Many of those in Victoria Park crowd felt compelled to attend the annual vigil to say ‘no’ to contentious bill
  • At its peak, the crowd spilled over to lawn areas and park’s running paths, as latecomers kept streaming in

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Tens of thousands gather in Victoria Park. Photo: Winson Wong
SCMP Reporters
On a night to remember, as on so many before, they came in their tens of thousands to mourn the Tiananmen dead. But this year’s candlelight vigil in Hong Kong had additional significance: it was a barometer of opposition to the government’s controversial extradition bill.

While they remembered the bloodshed that occurred 30 years ago in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, many of those in the record-breaking crowd in Victoria Park on Tuesday said they also felt compelled to attend the annual vigil to say “no” to the contentious bill, which would allow the transfer of criminal suspects to mainland China.

Critics of the bill fear people could face vague charges and unfair trials for political reasons – such as attending the June 4 commemorations.

The turnout for this year’s anniversary of the June 4, 1989 crackdown was more than 180,000, according to organiser Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Police said 37,000 attended at the peak.

“We included the theme of the extradition bill this year because it is about sending Hong Kong people to a dictatorial regime,” alliance vice-chairman Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong said.

“Anti-dictatorship is also the spirit of the 1989 student movement.”

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