Vigil pays glowing tribute to June 4 and earthquake victims

Thousands of people who turned up last night for the annual vigil marking the 19th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown also mourned the dead in the massive earthquake that hit Sichuan three weeks ago.

Despite earlier suggestions that June 4 remembrance activities should be scaled down in light of the disaster that left at least 69,000 dead, organisers instead turned the vigil into a remembrance of both tragic events.

They said more than 48,000 took part, compared with 55,000 last year. Police estimated the figure to be 15,700. Activists said the turnout showed that Hong Kong people had not forgotten June 4.

Echoing above the sea of candles that illuminated the faces of the crowd, which covered seven soccer pitches in Victoria Park, were calls for the central government to reverse its verdict on the 1989 pro-democracy movement, release jailed dissidents and introduce democracy by ending the one-party leadership by the Communist Party.

"Through the candlelight, we shall see the bloodbath and the bodies in disarray 19 years ago," the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China said in its declaration for the vigil. "We shall also see the countless dead and injured under debris in the Sichuan earthquake."

Singing the pro-democracy songs that were sung by students and workers making their last stand before the advancing soldiers and tanks in Beijing's Tiananmen Square 19 years ago, activists laid wreaths and bowed in front of a makeshift memorial.

Paying tribute to the dead, alliance chairman Szeto Wah praised the central government's earthquake relief efforts, which he hoped represented a breakthrough that would lead to greater openness and freedom on the mainland.

"We cannot escape natural disasters like earthquakes, but man-made ones like the bloody crackdown are not inevitable ... Our dear countrymen, who lost your lives in the massacre and the earthquake, may you rest in peace," he said.

To show solidarity with the earthquake victims, all donations collected last night in support of the pro- democracy movement will be sent to the Red Cross for quake relief.

In a prayer session of Christian groups before they joined the vigil, Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said he was hopeful the state leadership would vindicate the hundreds killed in the Tiananmen tragedy before its 20th anniversary.

He drew a parallel between the visit to the quake site by Premier Wen Jiabao and that of late party secretary Zhao Ziyang to the students in Tiananmen Square.

"Despite the hopelessness, Premier Wen has shown the face of a loving parent in the rescue efforts ... Perhaps it is also the hope of Premier Wen to rectify the June 4 verdict and vindicate the Tiananmen martyrs."

SCMP. June 5, 2008