![]() That month the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong announced that it would not hold a Tiananmen commemorative mass that year the church cancelled its 2022 mass due to concerns over the National Security Law. Also in May, the Hong Kong authorities removed at least nine titles about the Tiananmen Square massacre from the city’s public libraries. Its Danish sculptor, Jens Galschiø, made repeated attempts to retrieve the piece, but the university ignored them. University authorities had removed the sculpture in 2021 from the campus. In May, the Hong Kong police seized the “Pillar of Shame,” a large sculpture commemorating the massacre victims, from a facility run by the University of Hong Kong. Police arrested 15 participants for obstructing officers and for other offenses. ![]() On June 4, 2022, despite the ban and heavy police presence, some people still went to Victoria Park, the site of the vigil, and held up electronic candles and phone flashlights, or sang songs of remembrance. Among them, Chow Hang-tung had already been serving 15-month and 12-month sentences for participating in the 20 vigils respectively. In Hong Kong, in February, a court sentenced three organizers of the now-banned annual Tiananmen vigil to four-and-a-half months in prison for failing to provide the authorities with information on the organizing group. The authorities allowed only a few family members and students to attend his funeral. Jiang, who witnessed the military’s June 1989 killings as a surgeon in a military hospital in Beijing, had called for China’s leaders to acknowledge the massacre, for which he was first detained and then periodically subjected to monitoring, harassment, and house arrest. In March, Jiang Yanyong, a prominent doctor known for exposing the Chinese government’s coverup of the SARS epidemic in 2003, died in Beijing. In Guangdong, the authorities forcibly disappeared activist Ye Hongwen, shortly after he posted a photo of himself on Twitter commemorating Tiananmen in a public square in 2022. The authorities warned Chen’s family not to speak about his death publicly. ![]() ![]() In December, Chen, who had suffered a stroke prior to his detention, died in custody after being denied adequate medical care. In July 2022, the authorities detained Xu’s friend, Chen Ziliang, 55, a member of the banned Democracy Party, in relation to Xu’s investigation. In April, a court tried him for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The verdict has not been announced. In response to commemoration activities in 2022, the authorities in Hangzhou detained Xu Guang, an activist and participant in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, shortly after he went to a local police station to demand the Chinese government acknowledge the massacre. The Tiananmen Mothers released a public statement reiterating their call for “truth, compensation and accountability” about the massacre. The police in Shandong summoned activist Qi Chonghuai and warned him not to participate in commemoration activities. On May 27, 2023, the authorities in Hunan province detained activist Chen Siming after he refused to delete his tweet commemorating Tiananmen. They restricted the movement and communication of activists and members of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of relatives of victims of the 1989 massacre. In response, the government abruptly lifted most of the pandemic restrictions, but detained dozens of protesters.Īs in previous years, in the weeks before the Tiananmen anniversary, the authorities have preempted commemorations. Most recently, in late 2022, thousands of people across China took to the streets to protest the government’s draconian Covid-19 measures and the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rule. “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,” said Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Still, people across China and the globe continue to risk their safety and freedom by speaking out and demanding their rights.” The Chinese government should acknowledge responsibility for the mass killing of pro-democracy demonstrators and provide redress for victims and family members. (New York) – Chinese authorities are increasing efforts to erase memories of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing while people across the globe commemorate the event, Human Rights Watch said today. Liu Xiaobo addresses the crowd at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, May 1, 1989.
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