Several thousand protesters marched in Hong Kong today in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the 1989 military crackdown on student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. This BBC report also has video of interviews with protest participants:
Thousands have marched in Hong Kong to mark the forthcoming 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen killings, in one of the few such events on Chinese soil.
[…]Many at the protest wore black and white, to symbolise mourning.
Police said at least 4,700 people had gathered. Tens of thousands more are expected to attend a candlelit vigil on Thursday.
More details of demonstrator demands from Voice of America:
Protesters urged the government in Beijing to reverse its verdict condemning the Tiananmen protests as a counterrevolutionary riot.
They called for justice for the victims of the Chinese government’s crackdown on June 3rd and 4th in which hundreds and possibly thousands of students and workers were killed on the streets of the Chinese capital.
The Hong Kong demonstrators were joined by Tiananmen protest leader Xiong Yan, who lives in exile in the United States.
Xiong Yan’s presence in Hong Kong is a surprise. From IOL:
Xiong, who was put on a list of the authorities’ 21 “most-wanted” student protesters after the occupation of Tiananmen was broken up, spent two years in jail before being smuggled to the US via Hong Kong.
His entry was unexpected because of China’s sensitive attitude to any criticism of the crackdown.
“I was very surprised as I have tried many, many times to come,” said Xiong, who arrived Saturday night, the first time he had set foot on Chinese soil in 17 years.
