Commemoration of the Tiananmen Square events has also been suppressed in Hong Kong, where several mentions of the anniversary on social media have been arrested.
Today marks the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, one of the most painful historical events in China.
On June 4, 1989, the Chinese army violently broke up a demonstration in Beijing’s central square demanding political and economic reforms, which had gathered tens of thousands of people. At least hundreds of people died when the demonstration was crushed.
In China, violence against its own citizens has been suppressed by avoiding mention of the event and by censoring online references to the date or place of the event.
Also in Hong Kong – the only place on Chinese soil where the anniversary of the bloody events could be remembered in recent years – public commemoration has been suppressed after the security laws passed by China in 2020. Hong Kong police said ahead of the anniversary that they had arrested several people over social media updates that referred to a “sensitive date”.
Also, the Christian Times magazine, published in Hong Kong every year and making a statement, published an issue ahead of the anniversary, with an almost empty cover. According to the magazine, the cover photo could not have been printed this year.
Among other things, after the suppression of the protests, the EU imposed sanctions on arms exports to China, which are still in force.