150,000 People in Hong Kong Candlelight Vigil to Commemorate 20th Anniversary of “64”

From BBC:

President of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements Sito hua (司徒华) announced in the evening, this year’s “64” 20^th anniversary evening gathering has over 150,000 participants attending.

He said, previously the record was during the first anniversary in 1990, over 100,000 participants. This year’s number has broken the record. When Sito announced the number of attendees, all participants cheered in response. Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), the vice chairman of the Alliance then said including the people who did not get into the Victoria Park, the estimated number is about 200,000.

During the gathering, on behalf of the people Alliance representatives bowed and send flowers to the “democratic hero monument” and had the moment of silence for the victims. This year, in addition to the broadcast of “Tiananmen Mothers” organization representative Ding Zilin’s (丁子霖) recorded speech, for the first time the former leader of the student movement in Hong Kong Xiong Yan (熊焱) also delivered his speech at the scene. Xiong Yan praised Hong Kong is “the pride of the world… the pride of the entire China” and also like to thank Hong Kong for helping him escape from China that year, brought him back today.

Young people to participate

This year, a few incidents related to “64” have taken place. One of them is the former president of the University of Hong Kong students Yat Ngok Chan (陈一谔) has been removed from office for questioning “64” incident. Also Chief Executive claims that his view of “64” incident can represent the entire Hong Kong’s point of view. This remark has been criticized by the pro-democracy members of legislative Council. Some analysts believe that after these two incidents will trigger more people to participate in “64” 20^th anniversary of the memorial activities, in particular young people. However, college students student Miss Chen who studies sociology thinks these two incidents are do not have great impact. Miss Chen told BBC “They have their reasons to think that, but I will not be subject to this influence, because everyone has their own independent thinking.”

Another university student Mr. Wang said “I come here is the will of my own… I would not say that to oppose their views, but I hope that they will know that they are saying is the truth or not, they have to be true to their conscience.”

Miss Chen who studies journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has well experienced the saying of “there is a lack of understanding of “64” for the generation born in the 1980s” Chen told the BBC News “absolutely agree… from that time (when young) to now, no one has told me what (“64” incident) is, when a textbook cannot speak, the teacher would not say in class.”

“In Hong Kong, students have many things to do… When things like this feels like has nothing to do with them, they will not care.”

LEE Cheuk-yan, vice chairman of the Alliance believes that this year’s candlelight vigil has more participation of young people. It shows to the Chinese Communist regime that the younger generation still remembers the "64" events, will continue the fight for the vindication of "64."

Opinion poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong released the latest annual survey found that 61% of respondents supported the vindication of the "64" incident, an increase of 12.1 percentage points.

Also, there are also organizations in Macao at Senado Square in the city center to hold a "64" commemorating evening. Macau radio and television reported that about 200 participants. Hong Kong Radio Television reported about 300 participants.

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