The police informed the victims’ relatives that they would not be allowed to visit a cemetery in Beijing during the anniversary of the crackdown, said a person familiar with the situation. He spoke anonymously, fearing persecution.
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The victims’ relatives have been visiting the cemetery for more than 30 years on the anniversary and, under police observation, reading memorial statements, said the organization Amnesty International. They belong to a group called the “Tiananmen Mothers.”
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died in 1989 when the army moved through crowds trying to prevent soldiers from reaching protesters in the vast Tiananmen Square in the center of China’s capital. The Communist Party leadership’s decision to send in the army was a pivotal moment in modern Chinese history, resulting in market reforms that turned the country into the world’s second-largest economy without political liberalization.
In Hong Kong, police tightened security on Thursday to prevent any commemoration in or near the park, where a massive candlelight vigil used to light up the night annually on the anniversary until strict measures were taken after large anti-government protests in 2019. On Wednesday, officers stopped two performance artists in separate incidents who tried to perform symbolic gestures. One briefly raised a question mark-shaped balloon near a department store.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who recently accompanied President Donald Trump on a state visit to Beijing, issued a statement to mark the anniversary.
“No censorship can erase the past,” it said. “Those who sacrificed their lives to defend their inalienable rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly will one day be rehabilitated.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday accused M. Rubio of distorting facts and slandering its political system.
Warning of intensified repression
The “Tiananmen Mothers” issued an annual appeal for justice ahead of this year’s anniversary. The statement, signed by 107 people, demands full disclosure of what happened, compensation for victims and their families, and criminal accountability for those responsible.
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“The sacrifice of our family members is an indelible pain etched in our hearts. Our tears have dried, grief buried deep inside, leaving only the eternal memory of our family members and hatred for the crime – the massacre of people,” said group member Zhang Xianling in a video posted on the social network Facebook, which is blocked in China.
According to Amnesty International, there is great concern that China’s suppression of commemorations appears to be intensifying.
“The ban on relatives of those killed in the Tiananmen crackdown from visiting their loved ones’ graves is a callous act by the Chinese authorities,” said the organization’s deputy director for Asia, Sarah Brooks.
Beijing’s Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment.
Hong Kong officials have banned the vigil since 2020; initially, this was justified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Three vigil organizers were charged under the 2020 national security law. One pleaded guilty and may receive a lighter sentence. The other two were tried and are awaiting verdicts.
One of them, lawyer Chow Hang-tung, said in an online post last weekend that she would start a 37-hour hunger strike in prison.
“Behind the glitter of power and dictatorship lies the blood of ordinary people and broken dreams. Amnesia hides the death of democracy,” she wrote.
Former district councilor Derek Chu reported on Instagram that he visited Chow Hang-tung on Thursday and told her that, in support, he would also fast for 37 hours. He added that his store distributes LED candles that can be used to honor the victims’ memory.
