4 June 2024 – The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation honors the thousands of people murdered in Tiananmen Square thirty-five years ago today.
On June 4th, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party brutally and unnecessarily cracked down on student-led demonstrations calling for political and economic reform. Since then, China has tried to erase that day’s events from history. While the CCP has successfully eliminated any mention of the massacre from public record, it can’t destroy people’s memories, from the friends and family members of those killed to people around the world who saw the news reporting from Tiananmen Square that day.
Until recently, Hong Kong was a place of relative freedom where public memorials could be held. In 2019, hundreds of thousands of people participated in a Tiananmen Square vigil at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. Since then, the Hong Kong government has banned vigils commemorating June 4th, and sentenced many, including British citizen Jimmy Lai, to jail, for attempting to participate.
The Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on Hong Kong is ongoing, and more than 1,800 political prisoners are in jail. Last week, Hong Kong courts convicted 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s largest national security trial. They are among 47 pro-democracy figures arrested in February 2021 for participating in primary elections.
The lives brutally extinguished on June 4th, 1989, continue to inspire our fight to free those prisoners, and restore rule of law in Hong Kong. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation commemorates the courage of the Tiananmen Square protesters, and the many throughout China who are imprisoned today for advocating for human rights.