Thousands gather for Tiananmen's 20th anniversary
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SLIDESHOW: Preparations began early for the candlelight vigil commemorating the 20th
anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. (photos by Francesca Ayala and David Cohen)
HONG KONG -- Thousands of people gathered in Hong Kong on Thursday night to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests with a candlelight vigil.
Organizers say more than 150,000 people filed into Victoria Park to pay their respects to the hundreds, possibly thousands, who lost their lives rallying for democracy in Beijing on June 4, 1989. According to the event's organizers an additional 50,000 people filled the streets surrounding the venue. Police estimates given to CNN and the New York Times put the number of attendees at 63,000.
Many were dressed in black or white, the Chinese color for mourning.
"It shows that the people of Hong Kong haven't forgotten and will not forgive what was done by the Chinese Communist government," said Lee Cheuk-yan, one of the vigil's organizers and a pro-democracy legislator.
Lee is blacklisted from entering the mainland for supporting the demonstrations. On the night of the bloody government crackdown, he was in his room at the Beijing Hotel, crying.
German tourists Alfred Folkers and Isolde Schwarz recalled watching the rallies on television and said they still could not find the words to articulate how shocked and sad they felt.
"We want to support the Hong Kong people and show our respect for this activity," Schwarz said of the vigil.
Hong Kong is the only part of China where people were allowed to honor the 1989 protests.
Debby Chan, a member of the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign, was touched by the thousands who attended.
"There has been a denial of justice for 20 years," said Chan, 28, "I'm deeply moved, it's proof that many Hong Kong people still preserved their conscience."
Zachery, who declined to give her last name, was born in China but now lives and studies in Hong Kong. The 17-year-old handed out flyers about her pro-democracy student organization during the event. Zachery was not yet born at the time of the 1989 demonstration. In fact, she said she didn't even know about the protests when she studied in China.
"What we can do now is take every opportunity to show our need for democracy and show others that we won't surrender," she said.
Martin Lee, a long-time pro-democracy campaigner said attendance for the vigil made him proud to be Chinese.
"There is hope for democracy in China," he said.
