Democracy movement remembers student massacre

Pro-democracy figures claimed fresh momentum today after tens of thousands of people rallied on the 15th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square massacre, but Beijing’s local allies denounced the protest as a ploy to seek independence.

“People are geared up to speak out,” opposition lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said.

Hong Kong residents hold a candlelight vigil every year to commemorate China’s military crackdown on unarmed students rallying for democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

This year’s event was highly charged after China recently ruled out full democracy in the near term for Hong Kong.

Organisers claimed they attracted a 82,000 people, up from around 50,000 last year. Police put the number at 48,000.

Hong Kongers still mourn the hundreds, if not thousands, of people killed when China used troops and tanks to crush the mainland’s democracy movement.

China’s decision in April that Hong Kong citizens cannot directly elect their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008 added to the high emotions this year.

Beijing claims it had to use troops to break up a counter-revolutionary riot, and its local allies voiced sharp criticism of the candlelight vigil.

The Wen Wei Po newspaper, seen by many as a local mouthpiece for Beijing, said the demonstrators were engaged in a plot to seek independence.

“Hong Kong has returned to the motherland with significant autonomy, but democracy sympathisers are still shouting ‘return power to the people’. Who do they want to return power to?” Wen Wei Po asked in an editorial.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp has never advocated independence, though opposition law-makers and activists say they would like to see China become democratic.

Politics have grown more turbulent since July 1, when 500,000 people marched against an anti-subversion bill they viewed as a threat to freedoms. It was later withdrawn.

Emboldened by that success, many people began clamouring for universal suffrage. Beijing told Hong Kong in April it won’t happen any time soon, by ruling out full democracy in the near term and telling Hong Kong to instead focus on economic development.