CHINA: Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong held candles and sang songs of democracy yesterday to mourn those who died when Beijing sent in tanks to crush a pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago.
"Reverse the verdict on June 4th," the crowd chanted during the protest in the former British colony, referring to Beijing's stand that the Tiananmen Square uprising was "a counter-revolutionary rebellion".
"End one-party rule. Return power to the people." Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong regularly mark the Tiananmen anniversary, but this year thousands more attended.
But in Beijing itself, dissent was snuffed out with cordons, vans and plainclothes police.
The prosperity brought by three decades of economic reform has dimmed political discontent, and most of the few remaining activists from 1989 are under house arrest to muzzle criticism over those killed in one of the biggest demonstrations against the Communist Party since it took power in 1949.
Yesterday police cars criss-crossed the sprawling square, and officers were seen shoving two men into the back of vans and taking aside three photographers for questioning.
At least seven others were taken into police custody or turned away on the fringes of the square.
Hundreds were killed on the night of June 3rd-4th, 1989, when People's Liberation Army soldiers backed by tanks shot their way down the main Changan Avenue, blocked by Beijing residents, and wrested control of the square from student demonstrators.
Some participants are still serving long jail terms, and analysts say the refusal of the party to set them free is a sign of how nervous China's rulers are about their ability to contain political dissent.
Late on Thursday a lone man in his 50s staged a short-lived protest, kneeling to pray at the foot of the Monument to the People's Heroes at the centre of the plaza. He was swiftly taken away by police.
"I observed three minutes of silence at home because I couldn't leave. There are more than 10 policemen outside," said Mr Jiang Qisheng, a Tiananmen Square student negotiator who was jailed for 18 months after the crackdown.
By contrast in Hong Kong yesterday protest organisers estimated a turnout of over 60,000, up from 45,000 last year.
To wailing music, the candle-holding mourners bowed three times to pay respects to victims of the crackdown.
"I am furious with the Chinese Communist Party. It has been oppressing us, but it can never suppress our hearts," said Ms Chan Fong (60), who was one of the participants.
She said she had made a special effort to come despite her age because she was upset with what Beijing had done to pro-democracy forces in the territory.
Hong Kong and the former Portuguese enclave of Macau are the only Beijing-controlled territories allowed to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen movement. Hong Kong and Macau returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and 1999 respectively, with guarantees that they would enjoy a high degree of autonomy and wide-ranging freedoms.
Hours before the vigil, a prominent advocate warned that younger people in Hong Kong would become increasingly defiant if Beijing persists in suppressing aspirations for more democracy.
"It was a defiant movement in 1989 and it is also a defiant movement in Hong Kong now. It is the same struggle," said Mr Lee Cheuk-yan.
"We demand more democracy and we demand that China honours its promise to give Hong Kong more democracy."
Fearful that Hong Kong's demands for more democracy may spin out of control, Chinese officials have begun a campaign to discredit pro-democracy figures in the territory before legislative elections in September.
Human rights and legal experts have charged that Beijing is reneging on its promises to Hong Kong at the time of the handover by Britain.
"If China goes on like this, suppressing aspirations in Hong Kong, I'm afraid our younger generations will not accept it. They will be more defiant than we are now," Mr Lee said.