Tiananmen anniversary: loud in HK, quiet in Beijing

An estimated 150,000 people marked the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre at a candle-vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Thursday evening, the South China Morning Post reported. The protest would have been even larger except that numerous would-be attendees were turned away for lack of space. Crowds sang songs and listened to speeches, including a fiery speech from Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, which organises the annual vigil. "We can still smell the blood," Tsoi told the crowd. The ceremony stood in stark contrast to vigorous suppression in Beijing. Observers in Tiananmen Square estimated that 70% of the people in the square were "uniformed police, soldiers, city management officials and plain clothes security personnel," the Financial Times reported. Journalists with the newspaper were stopped when they tried to enter the square, and Chinese citizens they spoke to were immediately questioned by the police. The Chinese government also reacted angrily to US calls for Beijing to publish data on the numbers of those killed as the Chinese military took control of the square from the protesters, calling the suggestion a "gross interference" in China’s internal affairs.