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June 4 vigil in Hong Kong
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil embraced by new generation, as young activists recommit to fighting for those without a voice

  • The anniversary has been dismissed by some residents in the past as a futile exercise that never drew mainland China any closer to democracy
  • But with the Beijing-mandated national security law on the horizon, some are wondering if this year’s event will be the last

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People hold up candles at the annual June 4 vigil marking the Tiananmen Square crackdown, in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Jeffie Lam,Lilian Cheng,Gigi ChoyandSum Lok-kei

In recent years, the organiser of the annual Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong endured questions about its relevance from young people who slammed it for being ritualistic, naive and idealistic for caring about democratic change in mainland China.

But this month, activists put aside such ideological differences in the face of a looming threat: a Beijing-decreed national security law that could come into effect very soon. Many feared its promulgation could outlaw the vigil, which had been the only mass commemoration of the bloody crackdown on Chinese soil over the past three decades.

“I used to find shouting slogans [in the park] a bit useless, especially when the alliance has been doing it all these years,” said Mary Leung, a 24-year-old Chinese University student. On Thursday night, however, Leung showed up in Mong Kok with five of her friends to take part in a vigil spread across the city. “Now it becomes something we want to treasure: the exercise of free speech,” she said.

Hongkongers hold up candles and their hands with five outstretched fingers, a reference to the five demands of the anti-government movement, such as universal suffrage, in Mong Kok on Thursday. Photo: Felix Wong
Hongkongers hold up candles and their hands with five outstretched fingers, a reference to the five demands of the anti-government movement, such as universal suffrage, in Mong Kok on Thursday. Photo: Felix Wong

As the annual event in Victoria Park was banned because of social-distancing rules in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic, participants popped up in assorted locations with candles. But that was not the only difference to the commemoration.

Where previously it was sombre and solemn as people mourned the loss of life in the 1989 student uprising in Tiananmen Square, on Thursday night they took the chance to reflect their discontent with the authorities after almost a year of anti-government protests.
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