HONG KONG—An estimated 150,000 people held a vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong on June 4, 2009, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The ceremony, hosted by Hong Kong Alliance In Support Of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, had a record turnout compared to the first anniversary held in 1990.
The participants in the ceremony consisted mostly of young people. However, there were also many mainland Chinese and foreign tourists.
Many people had already arrived at Victoria Park before 6 p.m., and the large crowd started pouring in after dark. Six football fields were packed with people before 8 p.m. The organizers had to open extra areas, including grass areas and basketball fields, to accommodate more people, which delayed the ceremony for about 30 minutes.
The vigil began with a recorded speech of former regime leader, Zhao Ziyang. The chairman of the Alliance, Mr. Szeto Wah, then led a group of young people born on 1989 to present flowers, followed by igniting the democracy torch and announcing the names of some victims of the Massacre. The crowd also observed one minutes silence to pay tribute to the Tiananmen victims and listened to a recorded speech made by a Tiananmen mother, Ms. Ding Zilin.
Mr. Xiong Yan who was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, praised Hong Kong as the pride of the entire world and China, “Tonight, amidst this sea of candle lights and in our suffering hearts, we again share a common dream–a common dream that in the near future the totalitarian Chinese Communist regime will eventually be removed from the stage of history.”
