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1 000s hold Tiananmen vigil
04/06/2006 16:32 - (SA)
Hong Kong - Tens of thousands of people gathered on Sunday for Hong Kong's annual candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre, in the only official commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil.
While large crowds gathered at the city's Victoria Park to mark the 17 anniversary of the killings, numbers appeared down on organisers' estimates of 40 000.
"The first year feelings were very strong but this year feelings aren't so strong because 17 years is a long time and it doesn't mean as much to people any more," said Nike executive Albert Liu, who joined the rally.
"That's a shame. We should support events like to keep the memory of the brutality alive."
Hundreds, maybe thousands, were killed in the massacre, which China justified as necessary to restore law and order amid a huge student-led pro-democracy protest.
The Chinese government, which refers to the massacre as an "incident", has repeatedly refused demands from dissidents and overseas governments to re-examine its position on the crackdown.
Organisers of the vigil used the occasion to boost support for pro-democracy organisations on the mainland.
"If you look at the situation in China now there is a lot of discontent and people are increasingly showing that," said vigil organiser and pro-democracy legislator Lee Cheuk-yan.
Firebrand pro-democracy legislator Emily Lau said: "The candlelight vigil is not just for remembering the dead, but is also a show of support for a democratic and free China."
Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China since 1997, was a British colony when the massacre happened.
Weeks after news filtered through of the brutal event, one million people took to the streets of Hong Kong in protest - the largest civil demonstration ever seen in the city with roughly one in six of the population joining the protest.
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