(4 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 4 June 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Wober, The Associated Press:
"This is the popular shopping district of Causeway Bay. Just down the road is the park where Hong Kongers used to gather every year, to remember what happened back on June 4, 1989, in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. But the situation is very different now. What you can see is that the streets are ringed with police. Dozens, if not hundreds of police are on duty here today, on June 4, and in the run-up. If somebody, just a single person, comes out and tries to make any show of protest, or express any views which could be considered related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, dozens of police will surround that person, stop them, interrogate them and from what we’ve seen today, may put them in a van to take them away, or sometimes let them go on their way. But certainly, the old-style, popular, peaceful memorial for Tiananmen 1989 is no longer happening, and seems no longer possible in Hong Kong."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Officers were out in force in Hong Kong on Tuesday as security was heightened on the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.
China has long quashed any memory of the crackdown, when the Chinese government ordered in the army to end the months-long protests and uphold Communist rule
Tiananmen memorials have also been scrubbed out in Hong Kong — for years the only place in China where they could take place.
Associated Press journalist, Rafael Wober, explained the situation in a popular Hong Kong shopping area, stating scores of police were out in the streets.
"If somebody, just a single person, comes out and tries to make any show of protest, or express any views which could be considered related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, dozens of police will surround that person, stop them, interrogate them and from what we’ve seen today, may put them in a van to take them away, or sometimes let them go on their way," he explained.
An elderly man was seen being taken away after holding up two hand-written posters. One read: “Remember 89! Mourn 64!”
Hong Kong media said that activist Alexandra Wong, popularly known as “Grandma Wong,” was also taken away after she chanted slogans.
Some Hong Kong residents remembered the event privately, running 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) on Monday — a reference to the June 4 date — and sharing Tiananmen-related content on social media.
The British consulate posted a photo on the social media platform X showing a smartphone’s flashlight turned on with “VIIV,” the Roman numerals for 6/4, printed on it.
In the 1989 crackdown an estimated 180,000 troops and armed police rolled in with tanks and armored vehicles, and fired into crowds as they pushed toward Tiananmen Square.
The death toll remains unknown to this day.
Hundreds, if not thousands are believed to have been killed in an operation that started the night before and ended on the morning of June 4, 1989.
The crackdown became a turning point in modern Chinese history, ending a crisis in favor of Communist Party hardliners who advocated for control instead of political reforms.
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