On January 15, non-governmental organization Human Rights in China (HRIC) reported that, for the first time, the Chinese government obstructed the annual New Year’s gathering of the Tiananmen Mothers. Formed in September 1989 by Ding Zilin and other parents whose children were killed in the military crackdown on the Tiananmen protests, the Tiananmen Mothers have continued to meet, provide mutual support, and pressure the Chinese government to reverse its position on the 1989 protests and subsequent massacre. The group has come under pressure before, with members having been arrested, harassed, surveilled, and prevented from recording their June 4 commemorations.
Below is an excerpt from HRIC’s translation of the statement made by the Tiananmen Mothers about the official obstruction and cancellation of their annual New Year’s gathering, which had been scheduled for December 28 at a restaurant in Chongwenmen, Dongcheng District, Beijing:
The June Fourth massacre is an indelible pain in the hearts of every affected family. The annual gathering brings warmth to every member present, offering emotional solace to their wounded spirits through shared experiences and understanding among fellow bereaved families. However, this deeply humane act of compassion has been canceled by the government’s public security bureau via administrative means, without any legal basis, through what amounted to coercive interrogations.
Thirty-six years have passed, and many parents from our suffering group who lost their children have passed away, still carrying their regrets. Several wives, husbands, and disabled individuals who participated in signing on to our cause have also passed away due to illness. From a moral and humanitarian perspective, their deaths are incredibly cruel.
The young wives who, with great difficulty, shouldered the burden of raising their young children alone have now all become elderly women over 60 years old. It is this vulnerable group that, upon deciding to hold a New Year’s gathering in 2026, not only failed to see any sincere efforts from the government to address the massacre of innocent people during the 1989 student movement and initiate dialogue with us regarding the June Fourth massacre, but instead witnessed the cold reality of government security forces abusing their power to obstruct citizens’ legitimate social rights! [Source]
Last year’s New Year gathering of the Tiananmen Mothers. (source: HRIC/Tiananmen Mothers)
With each passing year, official attempts to suppress the memory of June 4 continue unabated, and online censorship of commemorations remains pervasive. This week marks the beginning of a long-delayed national security trial of three members of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which for many years helped to organize that city’s annual Tiananmen vigils. AP’s Jessie Pang and James Pomfret reported on the trial:
Blocked in 2020 over COVID-19 curbs, the Hong Kong memorials have never resumed since China imposed a tough national security law that year. Several June 4 monuments, such as the "pillar of shame", have also been removed from the city’s universities.
Under that law, Lee Cheuk-yan, 68, Albert Ho, 74, and Chow Hang-tung, 40, three former leaders of the group, now face charges of "inciting subversion of state power" that carry punishments of up to 10 years in jail.
[…] The trial is among the last of several such major cases, with Chow, the former vice chair of the group, held on remand for more than 1,500 days after being denied bail.
[…] Rights groups and some foreign governments have criticised such national security cases against prominent democrats as a weaponisation of the rule of law to silence dissent.
"This case is not about national security – it is about rewriting history and punishing those who refuse to forget the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown," said Sarah Brooks, the Asia deputy director of rights group Amnesty International. [Source]
