Smaller June 4 Vigils Mushroom Across Hong Kong

Groups of people joined candlelight vigils in different spots of Hong Kong on Thursday night to remember the victims of the 1989 bloody crackdown in Beijing.

The annual vigil organisers had urged people to light candles wherever they are to mark June 4 after police denied permission to hold the event at Victoria Park this year, citing coronavirus restrictions.

Local television channels showed large gathering in Mong Kok, and smaller groups in areas like Tsim Sha Tsui, Sai Ying Pun, Sai Kung and Tuen Mun.

"We are afraid this will be the last time we can have a ceremony but Hong Kongers will always remember what happened on June 4," said Brenda Hui, 24, in Mong Kok, where she and a friend stood with a white battery-illuminated umbrella that read "Never Forget June 4”.

Dozens of people also gathered outside the Yuen Long MTR station with lit candles, under the watchful eye of around a dozen riot police.

At the Kwun Tong pier, a group of people gathered with candles and mobile phones as the scheduled time for the vigil arrived.

People were seen gathering along the promenade outside Maritime Square in Tsing Yi with candles to mark the day.

The strong wind in the area posed problems for many with lighted candles, but they persisted while raising slogans like "five demands, not one less".

One middle aged man who said he lives in the area, who went around lighting people’s candles with his lighter, said he used to go to Victoria Park for the annual vigil but this year because of the ban he came here instead.

Hundreds of black-clad people, holding candles or turning on their cell phone flashlights, gathered in Tai Wai.

Shouting slogans, they slowly walked to a park in Sha Tin along the Shing Mun River.

A student in school uniform said it was her first time to commemorate the June 4th massacre.

She said she thought it’s none of her business until she watched videos online of the crackdown of the pro-democracy protests in 1989

(Additional reporting by Reuters)

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