On June 4, 1989, hundreds if not thousands of peaceful protesters were killed by Chinese troops in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Thousands were imprisoned. For the 33 years since Tiananmen Square, public remembrances have been criminalized in mainland China.
Chinese authorities have over the past year stepped up the harassment and persecution of activists for commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre. Human Rights Watch said that the Chinese government should acknowledge and take responsibility for the mass killing of pro-democracy demonstrators.
The Chinese government has long ignored domestic and international calls for justice for the Tiananmen Massacre, and some of the sanctions that the European Union and US imposed in response have over the years been weakened or evaded.
The lack of a sustained, coordinated, international response to the massacre and ensuing crackdown is one factor in Beijing’s increasingly brazen human rights violations, including the mass detention of an estimated one million Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang and the direct imposition of national security legislation in Hong Kong that suppresses fundamental freedoms.
The Tiananmen Massacre was precipitated by the peaceful gatherings of students, workers, and others in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and other Chinese cities in April 1989, calling for freedom of expression, accountability, and an end to corruption. The government responded to the intensifying protests in late May 1989 by declaring martial law.
On June 3 and 4, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers fired upon and killed untold numbers of peaceful protesters and bystanders. In Beijing, some citizens attacked army convoys and burned vehicles in response to the military’s violence.
The government has never accepted responsibility for the massacre or held any officials legally accountable for the killings. It has been unwilling to investigate the events or release data on those who were killed, injured, forcibly disappeared, or imprisoned. Tiananmen Mothers documented the details of 202 people who were killed during the suppression of the movement in Beijing and other cities.
Over the past year, Hong Kong authorities have arrested and prosecuted people for trying to commemorate the Tiananmen Massacre. Twenty-six pro-democracy activists – including Joshua Wong, media mogul Jimmy Lai, journalist Gwyneth Ho, and former legislators Leung Kwok-hung, Cyd Ho, and Andrew Wan – were arrested for participating or “inciting” others to participate in the 2020 vigil honoring massacre victims. They received suspended sentences or prison terms of between 4 and 14 months.
“Hong Kong activists are now being imprisoned for commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre anniversary,” said Yagiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But if history is any guide, President Xi Jinping’s repression will not erase the memory of Tiananmen from the minds of China’s people.”
A court in January 2022 sentenced human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung to 15 months in prison for participating and inciting others to participate in the 2021 Tiananmen vigil. Chow had already been serving a 12-month sentence for participating in the 2020 vigil.
Chow was the vice chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement of China, the organizer of the annual vigil. Hong Kong authorities banned the vigil in Victoria Park in 2020 and 2021. In September 2021, the police raided the premises of the Alliance-run June 4th Museum, which the authorities forced to close three months earlier.
Hong Kong’s universities have removed Tiananmen memorials. In December 2021, the University of Hong Kong removed “Pillar of Shame,” a large sculpture commemorating the massacre victims, from the university premises.
