Despite the prohibition, the hong Kong commemorates in the mass Tiananmen - The Point

In the event, the decisive moment, the most intense, and which yet the press never talks about it, is the moment before which nothing is played, and where all w

Despite the prohibition, the hong Kong commemorates in the mass Tiananmen - The Point

In the event, the decisive moment, the most intense, and which yet the press never talks about it, is the moment before which nothing is played, and where all wondering if the mobilization will be at the rendez-vous, uncertainty himself when the freedom to protest is threatened. On Thursday evening, in hong Kong, up to the last minute, the suspense was at its height for the vigil commemorating the massacre of tiananmen square, 4 June 1989, when thousands of pro-democracy protesters had been brutally murdered by the chinese army. This annual event is a must for the camp of democratic hong kong, which had supported from the first hour, and then exfiltré the survivors of the bloody repression in Beijing.

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on The pretext of measures to combat the epidemic, and so that the communist Party committed to radical reform and challenging the freedoms and autonomy of the former british colony, the authorities in hong kong have banned the gathering, a first in thirty years. Pretend to have waived, the organizers of the vigil had simply called for lighting candles throughout the city, rather than at Victoria park, where the event was held since the 1990s.

The museum of the 4 June

The day before, hong Kong's uncertain exchanged so messages on the discussion groups of the supports of the democratic movement. Mini-vigils were announced in all the neighborhoods, in the streets power to the popular Mong Kok, on the sea front of Whampoa, up in the suburbs far from Tai Po or Tsuen Wan, and even on the "island" hippie " of Lamma. To not sit idly by, or to give himself courage, the visitors thronged in the afternoon of D-day at the tiny museum of the 4 June, a unique place of memory in China for the events of 1989, including the simple evocation is strictly prohibited and systematically censored elsewhere in hong Kong.

There is a permanent exhibition "contrasts the" spring of Beijing " in 1989 and the protests in hong kong 2010. Follow one another on the walls the photographs of the " Tankman ", the man who defied the tanks on 5 June 1989, and clashes with the police in hong kong and the triads during the summer of 2019. The biography of Li Wangyang is the link : this survivor of the Tiananmen square, tortured and imprisoned for 20 years, was mysteriously murdered in 2012, after having dared to speak to the press in hong kong. "The most shocking in the shop windows, these are the cases of students abandoned on the site after the massacre ", if that frightens Lily, 21 years old, came here to commemorate it in one way or another, not knowing if she would dare to go to the Victoria park this year.

" The China events of 1989, it is a China that I would be proud, comment Victoria, 20 years old, international relations student. There was a passion that inspires us. "These young visitors, who are involved with the "revolution" in 2019, are reluctant today to take back the streets, fearing arbitrary arrests, and especially the implementation of security services of the central government, announced in the new national security act, which is expected to be finalized by the end of the month of June.

The China events of 1989, it is a China that I would be proud

Finally, some are en route to the park Victoria, on the island of hong Kong. At the exit of the station, Causeway Bay, surprise, activists, pro-democracy, have drawn up booths and banners along the sidewalks leading to the park, and some of them, perched on stools, haranguent passers-by, handing out leaflets and candles, chant slogans. Naturally, the crowd moves to the place forbidden, that in the morning the police has barricaded gates locked to prevent any gathering.

" hong Kong, a nation ! "

The forces of law and order are there, but, unusually in recent months, they do not wear riot gear, but the blue uniform on the traditional officers of the hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), a distant memory of the time when they were loved and respected by all, regarded as the " best of Asia ". And neither dam, nor threats, nor firing rubber bullets or tear gas, they do nothing to stop the mass rushes into the entrance of Victoria park. Somewhere, in high places, rather in the central government than in local authorities, it was decided not to provoke clashes, so as not to make the prohibition of this vigil a symbol.

It is 7 o'clock in the evening and the crowd flooded the sports fields at the centre of Victoria park, climbing, knocking down, uprooting, trampling on the barriers of iron intended to bar their way. But this challenge to authority is not a pretext for all the overflows : the watchmen sit in small groups a few meters apart from each other, to respect the rules of social distancing for a pandemic. "Gatherings of more than eight persons are prohibited ", is repeated elsewhere in the loop, and in vain, a voice of authority anonymous out of the speakers of the park. "Violators will be prosecuted. "

They are all there. Organizers of the vigil, the leaders of the Alliance of hong Kong in support of democracy movements and patriotic of China, stand elbow-to-elbow in the back, surrounded by cameras – its president, the trade unionist Lee Cheuk Yan, Leung Kwok-hung, known as " long Hair ", who takes the candle laying to hand... the mothers of The victims of Tian'anmen which distribute candles. Joshua Wong, the very young star of the movement of the umbrellas of 2014, gives interviews to the major agencies and tv channels. The simple supporters of democrats who just want to universal suffrage and to safeguard the autonomy of the city, echoing the slogans of 2019. Finally, the young pro-independence, always more numerous, who are trying to cover the other words order by their dada : "hong Kong, a nation ! "

"I come every year since 1990"

But it is 20h09 and, suddenly, all are silent, for a minute of silence. To loss of view, the park begins to flicker thousands of flames and torches of smartphone, and we all remember the thousands of chinese democracy that were silent for ever 31 years ago, exterminated under caterpillars of tanks, shot, beaten, deported, whose memory has been erased on the continent. In the middle of the crowd, Brian Lee, fifties, came alone : "I come every year since 1990," we said it, the hot wax of his candle streaming down his fingers now.

" I finished the university. What I had seen on television had me very angry with the chinese government. I was very concerned about our future, because we were supposed to be reunified with China seven years later. We were hoping that the China démocratiserait, but we saw already that this would only get worse. "Faithful among the faithful, he has experienced the lean years, when the vigil was gathering together a few followers, and the great cuvées, such as the evening previous, which saw 180 000 participants. "This has taken off, the movement against the law of extradition. Without the June 4, 2019, he would not have had the following events with millions of people. "

Pandemic, an act of national security, the fatigue of the movement of 2019, arrests always more numerous of recent events, the winds of 2020 are contrary, not to say hostile, but Brian has seen other. "I'm ready to be arrested by the police ", he says, pointing at his huge backpack. "I took a full business case where I would spend several days in jail. And I said to my wife that if I came home tonight, it should start to pick me up in the police stations. "Even the new law does not make him afraid. "I was born in hong Kong, it's home. I will never go ever. I'm afraid I'll be afraid until the last second, but I'm not going to go and not leaving her to the communist Party to take control. "

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Date Of Update: 04 June 2020, 17:34
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