Hong Kong authorities have arrested several people. This is to make it clear that the commemoration of the bloody Chinese tank intervention in Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen) in Beijing, now 33 years ago, will never be tolerated.

Meetings in memory of the victims, who then peacefully demonstrated for democratic reform, have also been banned in Hong Kong for a year.

Many Western missions ignored the call not to commemorate the military’s crackdown on civilians in 1989. As darkness fell on Saturday, lights and candles appeared on the windows of many foreign offices, including the US Consulate. This also happened on street corners in the city.

Victoria Park, where thousands of people have been staying on 4 June in the past, is largely closed. Police also carried out mass patrols throughout the day at the nearby Causeway Bay shopping centre, one of Hong Kong’s busiest areas.

Held to tank toys

People who were wearing flowers and black clothes were stopped and searched. This fate also befell a person with a toy box under his arm. This passerby points to the avatar of a man with a tank and shopping bags in his hand.

Reporters from the French news agency AFP saw the kidnapping of at least five people. Among them is the activist Yu Wai Ban of the Social Democratic Party LSD. A party spokesman later said Yu had been released without charge. Another LSD member was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with an image of Li Wanjiang, the late defender of democracy in China, and a mask reading “Sorry on June 4th”.

Thousands of dead

The Chinese army fired 33 years ago to end demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square in central Beijing. China has never released the full death toll, but human rights groups and eyewitnesses say the number could be in the thousands. The government last year imposed a strict security law on Hong Kong that could punish “subversive activities, terrorism and collusion with foreign armed forces” with life imprisonment.