Four days from today marks the 27th anniversary of one of the most horrific instances of government brutality in modern China: the Tiananmen Square Massacre. June 4th, 1989 in Tiananmen Square was like a scene out of a horror film – not one of those paranormal ghost-types, but the gory aftermath of a slasher flick kind. What began as a peaceful protest of a mixture of students and ordinary Chinese citizens calling for a pro-democratic China ended in thousands brutally gunned down or run-over by military tanks at the hands of their own country’s government.
Each year, June 4th is filled with deep anguish and mourning of the thousands of innocent lives unmercifully lost that day.
To commemorate the anniversary this year, hundreds of demonstrators marched the streets of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan is quoted by Asia One as saying, “This is the 27th year after 1989 and the people in Hong Kong, we, are still persistently calling for the vindication of June 4 and the end of one-party rule and democratic China. And also, everyone can see that, the suppression is not just back in 1989, it is also today in China, today in Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong Free Press puts the number of protestors at approximately 1,500 people, though the official police statement, not surprisingly, estimated the size at half that. Last year’s commemoration attracted nearly 3,000 people.
The crowd was passionate, calling for equality and democracy as well as voicing their agony over the cruelty and callousness of the tyrannical Chinese Communist Party. “Persist until the end! Never give up! Redress June 4! End one-party rule!” they chanted, Nikkei Asian Review reported.
Like most protests, however, groups of opposition were present as well. News platform Asia One wrote that Monday’s march was met by “dozens of pro-Beijing supporters,” who claim that reports agreed upon worldwide of civilian casualties at Tiananmen Square were enormously inflated.
One such CCP “patriot” was Peter Lam. “For 27 years, they (pro-democratic leaders) have been holding marches to draw attention to the Tiananmen Square massacre. I think this is not the truth. There are casualties in the 1989 riots, but the majority of those who died were military, as well as innocent civilians and students,” the loyalist said.
Mainland China works hard effacing what happened that tragic day 27 years ago; you won’t find the terms ‘Tiananmen Square Massacre’, ‘Tank Man’, or even the innocuous-sounding ‘June 4th’ anywhere on the web, and those who were alive then are too scared to mention the word, fearing persecution and imprisonment. The only version of Tiananmen Square is the Party’s version.
While people in mainland China are either clueless to the atrocious event or simply remain docilely silent on the matter, it is somewhat encouraging – even if ever-so-slightly – that the people of Hong Kong are taking an outspoken stand against the oppression and brutality of the Communist Party, paying tribute to and continuing on the message of the demonstrators who protested on June 4th, 1989.
