DPA
Hong Kong, June 1 (DPA) An estimated 1,000 people marched through Hong Kong Sunday to mark the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. The annual march, held on the Sunday ahead of the June 4 anniversary, was held in silence as a mark of respect to the victims of the devastating Sichuan earthquake last month.

Organizers said the earthquake was a reminder that while natural catastrophes could not be prevented, man-made catastrophes like the Tiananmen Square killings could be avoided.

Marchers made their way from Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to the government offices in Central on an overcast and occasionally drizzly Sunday afternoon.

Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil where the anniversary of the 1989 massacre, in which hundreds and possibly thousands of student protesters were killed, is publicly marked.

A candlelight vigil will be held on the evening of June 4 in Victoria Park, an event which usually draws a crowd of tens of thousands of people.

Both events are organized by the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movements of China which will donate the proceeds of this year’s vigil to the Sichuan earthquake victims.

Hong Kong went back under Chinese sovereignty in 1997 after 156 years of British colonial rule but retains freedoms of speech and expression denied to people in the rest of China.
DPA