Thirty-three years after the bloody repression of the student movement by the army around the Tiananmen square in Beijing, it is only by increasingly stealthy gestures that some Hong Kongs still manage to mark this date.
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Near the long lines of travelers aligned in front of the bus stops bordering the sidewalks of Hennessy Road, long suburb constantly cluttered with the district of Causeway Bay, in the heart of Hongkong, some black cardboard papers and white chalk stumps have been Discreetly deposited at the foot of a building, in a small recyclable plastic box, available to passers -by … to allow them to draw candles. Traced with more or less talent, these sketches are then taped or placed against the wall. In the adjacent streets, other boxes have been deposited without the surveillance cameras.
While almost everything is prohibited in Hong Kong to mark the thirty-third anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, Saturday June 4, there are only gestures as innocent as a candle drawing to honor unidentified dead and not recognized by this black episode in Chinese history.
police officers by clusters
earlier, not far from there, an old lady with long gray hair had dared to cross the street by ostentatiously wearing a tiny candle, a heroic gesture in the new repressive context of Hong Kong. Likewise, wearing a white flower by hand or lighting the light on your phone at 8 p.m., triggered noisy police summons by speakers. Because although Carrie Lam, the chief of the executive, never explicitly said that it was forbidden to commemorate Tiananmen, contenting himself with talking about the importance of respecting the laws and standards of social distancing, the police, She had largely dissuaded the crowds.
On the eve of the birthday, she had notably indicated that any individual, even alone, going becauseway Bay near the Grand Victoria park – historic and traditional place of commemoration evenings which have over the years gathered Millions of Hong Kongers -could be arrested for “illegal gathering” if his intention was to join other people who came for the same goal. In Hong Kong, participating in an illegal rally is liable to five years in prison.
Also, Saturday, at the start of the evening in the streets of Causeway Bay, it is an almost ordinary day of shopping which seems to be completed at the foot of buildings covered with giant advertising screens and neon lights. Only the police presence is quite exceptional. The police are there by clusters, in front of the store stores and at the corner of each house pâté, in uniform and in civilian in.
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