The Fight to Remember June 4

Victoria Park was totally empty tonight

This morning, June 4, did not start off well.

Chow Hang-tung, vice-chairwoman of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was arrested when she left her office to go to Radio Television Hong Kong for an interview. Plain clothes policemen took her away, accusing her of publicizing unlawful assembly.

There were reports that more arrests would happen throughout the day, but that thankfully did not come to fruition.

Chow of the alliance was arrested this morning

However, the police were taking no chances and by 2pm they had completely sealed off Victoria Park, where tens of thousands used to gather every June 4, and prohibited anyone from going in. Hong Kong may have recorded its first Covid-19 case in 42 days, but that wasn't enough of an argument to allow the candlelight vigil to take place; many of the organizers, like Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho Chun-yan are also in jail.

After work many people dressed in black tried to get closer to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Some gathered at the nearby Sogo department store, the area in front was swarming with police. There were threats of arresting people, and in the end six were taken away.

Perhaps these were idle threats? Or the police were overwhelmed by so many people determined to remember the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre one way or another. They were not content to just light a candle at home.

People left candles near Victoria Park

For 30 years the vigil was a community gathering; people put aside their differences and focused on this one day to remember the victims, to show they were not forgotten. People missed this communal spirit, a throwback to the 2019 protests too.

People were defiant, some shouting protest slogans, many holding battery-operated candles or real ones, or using the lights on their phones. They did not want the dead to think they were forgotten after 32 years.

Nevertheless, a friend who just happened to be caught up in the crowds said the atmosphere was tense, with garbage cans and pylons strewn around, and police everywhere. This friend felt nervous being in what felt like a tinderbox that could have exploded and managed to leave the area.

There were other impromptu gatherings in Mongkok, while people in Tsuen Wan tried to enter a church that was holding mass for the Tiananmen Square victims, but it was already full, so people gathered outside to watch the proceedings streamed online.

By 10pm at least six people aged 20-75 were arrested for allegedly inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly, ordinary assault, disorderly conduct in a public place, and obstruction of police, the force said. In addition, 12 people were fined for flouting the coronavirus-related ban on public gatherings of more than four people.

Some flowers left behind in Victoria Park

Is this how it's going to be from now on? Threats of arrest and people defiantly doing what they can to hold some kind of vigil?

In any event, it is the authorities who look shameful for not allowing people to gather outside and social distance in Victoria Park. It is hard for people to understand and accept that an event that was considered legal for three decades up to two years ago is suddenly not, and there are even threats of arrest and jail time if convicted.

It is too much. If those in power don't understand this, they will never understand Hong Kong people.

But this may be too late.

 

Lam Disregards Seniors in HK

Lam says move elderly to China, young mainlanders to HK

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has no sympathy for seniors -- even though she herself is one at 64 years of age.

When asked in the Legislative Council earlier this week what to do with Hong Kong's growing aging population and the birth rate rapidly declining, Lam suggested manipulating the numbers by shoving the elderly up across to the mainland and enticing young people from the mainland to the city.

Elderly need affordable, quality healthcare

Hong Kong experts accused Lam about being cavalier about the crisis, and that she needs to come up with better solutions than her simplistic suggestion.

They said it was not easy to lure talent to an expensive city like Hong Kong, while also pointing out that elderly people intending to retire on the mainland needed assurance they would get affordable and quality health care while being separated from loved ones.

The experts urged the government to also roll out more incentives to boost fertility rates and improve local child care services.

On Wednesday Lam said Hong Kong needed to attract more talent. "We need to lure more young people to come to Hong Kong, and offer our elderly people better locations to retire," she said.

Experts say Lam needs better solutions to ageing

"If we close the door and work on our population policy, that will be difficult. But if we make this city, with a population of more than 7 million, part of the country's 1.4 billion people, I will not be too worried about our demographics."

What is she saying? That she wants Hong Kong to be completely absorbed by the mainland so that the city's population doesn't matter anymore because it's part of China and that it's not her problem anymore?

It's as if she's given up on trying to find ways to keep Hong Kong going and wants to chuck grey-haired folks across the border without missing a beat.

Wan (right) holding up book

She herself is a senior citizen but has no clue what elderly people want, which is quality healthcare and their family members nearby.

On Monday there was a picture on Twitter of Andrew Wan Siu-kin, former vice-chairman of the Democratic Party and former lawmaker being shuttled to jail and he held up a book to show reporters what he was reading in his cell.

It was a copy of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A counter intuitive approach to living the good life by Mark Manson.

Maybe Lam has also been reading this book too?

June Fourth Museum Shuts Indefinitely

Fearing it is breaking the law, the museum has shut for now

Following the visit of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officers to the June Fourth Museum yesterday afternoon claiming the premises did not have an entertainment license, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China announced it was closing the museum until further notice to seek legal advice and protect the safety of its staff and visitors.

FEHD officers visited the museum yesterday

The organizers thanked the 550 people who visited the museum since Sunday when it reopened. 

Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong the alliance's secretary, said it was unlikely the museum would reopen in time for Friday, the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

"We still hope every citizen in Hong Kong can use their own way to commemorate June 4. We certainly think [if] we can maintain our strength at this particular critical moment, in the future we can definitely continue our struggle," Tsoi said.

An elderly man surnamed Ng tried to visit the museum today only to find it closed and said it was "regrettable".

"Every year I go to Victoria Park to attend the June 4th vigil. But I can't this year. So I thought I would visit the museum today to remember the event as I had time. But again I can't, it's very regrettable. June 4 is a big incident to Chinese people. I will never forget it. I hope the movement will be vindicated," he said.

In the meantime Hong Kong is on a 40-day streak of zero local cases of Covid-19 and yet the public cannot gather outside in large numbers due to the pandemic. To ensure that doesn't happen, some 3,000 police officers will be hovering around Victoria Park in case anyone (in black) does something. 

The inability to remember such an important event that has been openly marked for the past 31 years is hard to comprehend and accept. 

It will only build more frustration and anger, simmering once again below the surface...

Remembering June 4 in Precarious Position

The June Fourth Museum has updated its exhibition

The June Fourth Museum in Kowloon is facing more pressure from the authorities, now accusing the organizers of the place of running an entertainment venue that it does not have the proper license to do so.

Around 2pm this afternoon, officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department showed up at the museum and left leaving their contacts as those in charge were not there at the time.

The visit from the FEHD officers comes days before the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and the museum displays time lines, items from the historical event, and copies of news reports from that time among others.

Visitors laid flowers in tribute to the victims

"FEHD officers had never paid this place a visit before, and we have held similar exhibitions for 10 years... We still have to look into this, but we can't rule out that political reasons are involved," said Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, the secretary for the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

In response to media inquiries, the FEHD said it has begun enforcement work after an investigation, responding to recent complaints.

The department said licenses were required for entertainment venues that are open to the public -- including those that are admission-free -- and that applies to exhibitions as well.

It said according to the law, no one can keep or use any place of public entertainment without a license.

The timing of this enforcement is interesting... why not sort this out earlier?

Those convicted of not having the proper license can face a fine of up to HK$25,000 and imprisonment for six months, and a further fine of HK$2,000 a day for each day the offense continues.

For now the museum remains open with a steady stream of visitors looking at the newest displays and laying down flowers against a background of Tiananmen Square with the Goddess of Democracy as a tribute to the victims.

Keeping count of attendance to 2019...

Tsoi has also said the group is not going to move the ceremony online on Friday, worried it may find itself in legal troubles and doesn't want to get members of the public in legal cross hairs either.

"We will not even ask people to turn on their lights at a specific time on Friday, but only call on them to commemorate the crackdown with their own ways at the time of their choice," he said.

Instead, Tsoi said, the alliance will only broadcast clips on Friday featuring its statement, and speeches by the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of parents who lost children in the Beijing crackdown 32 years ago.

He said so far about 500 people have made bookings to visit in the coming days. 

"We can understand that some people may have a sense of helplessness under the prevailing political sentiment. But we will continue our work," Tsoi said.

"We are facing huge pressure. But it is not the end of the world. Maybe what we need to do now is to consolidate our strength, instead of having a head-on confrontation [with the authorities]. We trust that Hong Kong people are not giving up June 4 so easily."