Vancouver residents mark anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre
Society seeks to raise awareness, 32 years after violent crackdown on Chinese pro-democracy protesters.
Vancouver residents can pay tribute to the Tiananmen Square massacre online and in person at the Consulate General of China on Granville Street today.
The Vancouver Society in Support of the Democratic Movement (VSSDM) has organized an online vigil (YouTube @ VSSDM Square) for 3 p.m. This was followed by a march to the Chinese Consulate (3380 Granville Street) at 8 pm.
Today's online event will be attended by Speaker Fang Zheng and Hong Kong Alliance Vice President Chow Hang Tung, a survivor of a tank crippled. Those who wish to remember the victims and show their support for democracy in places claimed by the Chinese Communist Party - from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the People's Republic of China - are required to wear black clothing, wear masks and maintain physical distance. called upon to keep.
Over the past 32 years, Canadians, many of whom are associated with Hong Kong, have gathered with small statues known as the Goddess of Democracy in two places – Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Burnaby and at the University of British Columbia (UBC). .
Two sculptures mark a place to gather when Hong Kong faces an incursion by Beijing on the one country two systems principle. For example, the UBC goddess was decorated with a yellow umbrella in 2014 to protest the pre-screening of political candidates by Beijing. And extradition laws proposed by Beijing in 2019 prompted more gatherings.
On 4 June 1989, the People's Liberation Army opened fire on mostly student pro-democracy protesters. The death toll is not clear to date but estimates range from hundreds to thousands.
Now, the massacre has taken on more meaning as the CCP continues to dismantle Hong Kong's democratic government and institutions and jail dissidents for speaking out about Tiananmen Square.
A letter from Lee Cheuk-yan has been shared online by VSSDM. The former Hong Kong politician and now jailed activist wrote about the recent ban on Tiananmen Square in Hong Kong.
“The ban on rallies of June 4 this year is already expected. Last year, the police also banned gatherings on grounds of the pandemic. But that night, the UNFCCC Standing Committee and about 10,000 people were in Victoria Park. There was no stage, no sound, only candles or phones lit with their candles. There is also candle lighting in various communities outside Victoria Park. The gathering was banned, but the freedom not to forget June 4th cannot be curtailed.
International reports today indicate that there have been more arrests in Hong Kong.
Vancouver-based democracy activists suggest the city should be given more prominence to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre now that Beijing's proposed national security law threatens the annual memorial in Hong Kong's Victoria Park more clearly.
The deadly action shaped Vancouver with a wave of immigration by worried Hong Kong residents.
“The horrors of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 triggered the two largest immigration waves, both directly and indirectly, in Canada from 1990 to 1992 and 1996 to 1998,” said Ivy Lee, a member of the Canadian Friends of Hong Kong Society in 2020.
"Thousands of Hong Kongers, frightened by the brutality of the dictatorial Chinese Communist Party, fled their homes to start a new life in Canada," Li said.
According to a Statistics Canada website, between 1987 and 1997, 225,000 people moved from Hong Kong to Canada, marking the largest immigration waves in history.
Li says a more prominent recognition of the events in Tiananmen Square could help non-Chinese people better understand the shared values of the Chinese diaspora here in BC.
Although the city of Vancouver has not taken steps to formally mark the event for its citizens, Mayor Kennedy Stewart said in April that he was postponing meetings with China's consul general, citing human rights concerns.
Meanwhile, Premier John Horgan and his BC NDP government have faced continued criticism from Hong Kong activists for not taking a stand against the CCP and actually supporting trade initiatives linked to the alleged massacre in Xinjiang.