Say pro-Beijing group's bid to book Victoria Park, the regular location for Tiananmen vigils, is politically motivated
Police question a woman as she holds blank sheets of paper in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on June 4, 2022, close to the venue where Hong Kongers have traditionally gathered to mourn victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, on the 33rd anniversary of the incident. Hong Kong authorities strove to stop any public commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, with police warning gatherings could break the law as Beijing vies to remove all reminders of the events of June 4. (Photo: AFP)
Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong say a pro-Beijing organization’s request to use part of Victoria Park for a shopping event had “political reasons” as the event’s dates clash with the traditional commemoration of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
Richard Tsoi, former vice chair of the now-defunct Alliance, which organized the Tiananmen massacre vigil at Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park, said that the move to hold a sales event on that day was “unusual,” Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported on May 3.
“That organization has never held any event like that, and that week is not a special day or holiday — unless they want to commemorate June 4 — [so] it seems they are trying to occupy the park for political reasons,” Tsoi said.
The Tiananmen crackdown occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations against the Communist Party leadership in China.
The Federation of Hong Kong Guangdong Community Organization, a pro-Beijing charity founded in 1996, had requested to use a part of the park between May 30 and June 7 for a shopping event.
The organization has not conducted any shopping events during the past five years, HKFP said, citing its website.
But it has several high-profile individuals on its board, including chief executive John Lee as principal honorary patron and Hong Kong’s richest man Sir Ka-Shing Li as director.
The request from the organization to use part of Victoria Park is yet to be approved by Hong Kong's leisure and cultural services department.
According to the department, the two football pitches, and half of the two-hectare central lawn of the park are under renovation and so are unavailable for events until June-end.
Tsoi pointed out that based on previous restrictions and repeated denial from Hong Kong authorities to stage the vigil, there is a low probability of any events or gatherings this year.
“This is going to be the first June 4 since all pandemic restrictions were scrapped in Hong Kong… However, judging from previous experience, launching any public assembly would be difficult these days,” Tsoi said.
He further added that he has no plans to hold any gatherings or other activities to commemorate the massacre victims.
Tsoi was among eight people jailed over inciting unlawful assembly at a banned vigil in 2020.
Victoria Park has been the regular location for the annual Tiananmen massacre vigils for more than three decades.
However, owing to the request from the pro-Beijing group and the scheduled maintenance, the location will be unavailable for any gathering — planned or unplanned — for the 34th massacre memorial day.
Since 2020, pro-Beijing authorities have repeatedly denied permission for gatherings by pro-democracy groups to commemorate massacre victims, citing Covid-19 and other issues, HKFP reported.
Hong Kong was the only Chinese territory to observe the Tiananmen massacre commemoration for decades until the ban.
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