In case the date is not familiar, June 4 is the anniversary (this year the 15th) of the day of the crackdown in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, in the course of which certainly hundreds and probably over 1000 demonstrators were killed by the Chinese army. At the time, a million people came out into the streets of Hong Kong to support the demonstrations that were taking place throughout China. And each year since, there's been a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park -- to remember the dead, to demand an official reappraisal of the event by the Chinese government, to call for democracy, and to sing.
This year the vigil drew 82 000 people, according to organisers (and it is their number that will become official; Hong Kong police refuse to give estimates). That's the largest it's been since I've been going -- last year was 45 000. It was easy to tell the difference when we arrived at the park. We were as late as last year, so again we had to sit at the back, but this year the back was a lot further back. We were among the last ones there who weren't overflow.
The numbers and the mass of people matter. Last July 1 (the anniversary of the handover) saw the biggest demonstration in Hong Kong since June 1989, 500 000 people mad at the government (that's about 15% of Hong Kong's population). Since then, nothing has been resolved. Elections to local advisory councils in November were a slap in the face of pro-China parties. This spring, Beijing took it upon itself to "interpret" the Basic Law of Hong Kong (effectively the constitution that was negotiated between China and the U.K. before the handover), and the local, appointed leadership toadied along. The result was, unsurprisingly, no further democratisation in Hong Kong till at least 2012. Three popular radio hosts have resigned in recently because their pro-democracy politics were attracting unwanted (and possibly potentially violent) attention; Chinese officials have been in fits trying to explain that no pressure was put on the radio hosts. And just in this last week, the newish Chinese leadership announced that there was no chance of re-opening the verdict on the Tiananmen crackdown, that in the end it had been good for Chinese stability and the Chinese economy.
We'll see. There is another demonstration planned for July 1 this year. I expect it will be huge.
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