By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer 44 minutes ago
Chinese police tore up a protester's poster and detained at least
two people on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country
marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy
demonstration in the public space.
An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently
political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took
her away in a van.
A farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van.
After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing
for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them
to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained.
Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the
semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news
and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.
In Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at
Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields.
They observed a brief silence and organizers laid wreaths at a
makeshift shrine dedicated to "martyrs of democracy."
The crowd also sang the pro-democracy song, "Freedom Flower," with
the lyrics: "No matter how heavy the rain beats, freedom will blossom."
Organizers claimed 44,000 attended the commemoration, but police put
the figure at 19,000. The crowd size was likely hurt by rainy weather
in recent days and the lack of major political disputes.
"I hope the Chinese government will recognize this dark history," Eric Lau, 14, said.
Retiree Yan San, 74, said he has attended the annual commemoration in Hong Kong since its debut in 1990.
"I have persisted in coming here for 17 years because I love freedom and democracy," he said.
Wang Dan, one of the 1989 protest leaders who was jailed and then
exiled to the United States, said in a taped video message: "We don't
want China to plunge into chaos nor do we want the ruling party to give
up power. We only want the Chinese people to live freely and with
dignity."
China's authoritarian government has stood by the suppression of
what it has called "counterrevolutionary" riots, saying it preserved
social stability and paved the way for economic growth.
The events of June 4, 1989, shocked Hong Kongers at a time when the
territory was still a British colony but preparing to return to Chinese
sovereignty in 1997. The bloody suppression fueled fears that Beijing
would extend its authoritarian rule to Hong Kong.
Chinese police monitored Tiananmen Square closely Sunday.
About 2,000 police were on guard in and around Beijing's
"petitioner's village," a cluster of cheap hostels popular with people
from the provinces who have come to the capital to complain to the
central government.
Wang said in an article published in Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper
that he holds out hope China will loosen its political controls.
"Although so far we can't see any loosening, personally I'm
confident that day will come," he said. "Until the government reverses
its position (on the 1989 protests), ordinary people won't easily
forget the crackdown."
Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang, while in China's southwestern
Yunnan province to attend a regional cooperation conference, urged his
fellow citizens to look at the Tiananmen crackdown practically.
"Mainland China has undergone a level of change that has gained
the world's attention in the past 17 years. These changes have brought
much prosperity to Hong Kong ... so Hong Kong people can make an
objective judgment," Tsang said.
Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, a fierce democracy advocate, disagreed with Tsang.
"How can we let it go? Should we just let it slide, forgive,
pretend nothing happened? This is irresponsible. The successors of
those responsible for the June 4 incident should give an explanation,"
Zen said.
