China tightens access to Tiananmen Square on anniversary of 1989 pro-democracy protests

Police officers take away a member of the public in the Causeway Bay area on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square massacre, in Hong Kong. Photo / AP

China tightened already strict access to Tiananmen Square in central Beijing on Sunday, the anniversary of 1989 pro-democracy protests.

In Hong Kong, which had been the last Chinese-controlled territory to hold commemorations, eight people, including activists and artists, were detained on the eve of the 34th anniversary of the crackdown, a move underscording the city’s shrinking room for freedom of expression.

Police said in a statement late on Saturday that four people were arrested for allegedly disrupting order in public spaces or carrying out acts with seditious intent. Four others were taken away on suspicion of breaching public peace. Authorities did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Saturday.

The large public space had been the scene for an annual candlelight gathering to remember the hundreds or thousands killed when army tanks and infantry descended on central Beijing on the night of June 3 and into the morning of June 4, 1989.

A police officer, left, gestures to a journalist to stop as people on bicycles are ordered to stop for identification check at a checkpoint along a street near Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Photo / AP

Discussion of the events has long been suppressed in China and become increasingly off-limits in Hong Kong since a sweeping national security law was imposed in June 2020, effectively barring anyone from holding memorial events.

The death toll from the 1989 violence remains unknown and the Communist Party relentlessly harasses those at home or overseas who seek to keep the memory of the events alive.

In Beijing, additional security was seen around Tiananmen Square, which has long been ringed with security checks requiring those entering to show identification. Those passing by foot or on bicycle on Changan Avenue running north of the square were also stopped and forced to show identification. Those with journalist visas in their passports were told they needed special permission to even approach the area.

Still, throngs of tourists were seen visiting the iconic site, with hundreds standing in line to enter the square.

Ahead of the anniversary, a group of mothers who lost their children in the Tiananmen crackdown sought redress and issued a statement renewing their call for “truth, compensation and accountability”.

Human Rights Watch called on the Chinese government to acknowledge responsibility for the killing of pro-democracy protesters.

Indian tourists pose with posters in solidarity with exile Tibetans as they mark the anniversary of Tiananmen Square protest in 1989 and the subsequent clamp down by the Chinese authorities in Dharamshala, India. Photo / AP

“The Chinese government continues to evade accountability for the decades-old Tiananmen Massacre, which has emboldened its arbitrary detention of millions, its severe censorship and surveillance, and its efforts to undermine rights internationally,” Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

While Hong Kong, a former British colony handed over to Chinese rule in 1997, uses colonial-era anti-sedition laws to crack down on dissent, the persistence of non-conforming voices “lays bare the futility of the authorities’ attempts to enforce silence and obedience,” Amnesty International said.

“The Hong Kong government’s shameful campaign to stop people marking this anniversary mirrors the censorship of the Chinese central government and is an insult to those killed in the Tiananmen crackdown,” Amnesty said.

Beijing-appointed authorities in Hong Kong have blocked the Tiananmen memorial for the last three years, citing public health grounds. In 2020, thousands defied a police ban to hold the event.

Despite the lifting of most Covid-19 restrictions, the city’s public commemoration this year was muted under a Beijing-imposed national security law that prosecuted or silenced many Hong Kong activists.

Three leaders of the group that used to organise the vigil were charged with subversion under the law. The group itself was disbanded in 2021, after police informed it that it was under investigation for working on behalf of foreign groups, an accusation the group denied.

A foreigner on a bicycle talks to a police officer after he was ordered to stop for identification check at a checkpoint. Photo / AP

After the enactment of the sweeping law following massive protests in 2019, Tiananmen-related visual spectacles, including statues at universities, were also removed. Mostly recently, books featuring the events have been pulled off public library shelves.

Asked whether it is legal to mourn the crackdown in public as an individual, Hong Kong leader John Lee said that if anyone breaks the law, “of course the police will have to take action”.

Many Hong Kongers, who were unclear what authorities might consider subversive, tried to mark the event in low-profile ways on Sunday.

At Victoria Park, scenes of people rallying for democracy have been replaced by a carnival organised by pro-Beijing groups to mark the city’s 1997 handover to China. Organisers say it will feature a bazaar with food from across China.

Public broadcaster RTHK reported that it understood police would deploy up to 6000 officers to patrol the streets, including Victoria Park and government headquarters.