Catholics in Hong Kong and Card. Zen demand the truth about the Tiananmen massacre
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Braving torrential rain, at least 2,500 people marched in downtown Hong Kong to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen massacre and the pro democratic movement in China. The march took place yesterday, five days ahead of the 21st anniversary, June 4, 1989. Among the demonstrators were also a hundred of Catholics demanding "to know the truth about the events of June 4 and build a democratic China."
Police said the demonstration was attended by only 800 people.
For years in Hong Kong has hosted two events in honour of June 4: the march on Sunday before the date and a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park on the evening of June 4. Last year, over 150 000 people gathered in Victoria Park.
This year a regrettable has incident occurred: a historical exhibition on 4 June, the Hong Kong police seized two statues of the Goddess of Democracy, the statue that young people hoisted in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Lee Cheuk-yan, vice-president of the Alliance in support of the patriotic movement in China, organizers of the march, told the media that the seizure of the two statues is outright oppression by the government. He hoped that the statues will be returned before the June 4 vigil at Victoria Park.
Lee Cheuk-yan, a parliamentarian, described the two images "spiritual symbols of democracy." The police justified the seizure, saying that the organization lacked permission to exhibit the two works.
The majority of Catholics attending the march was made up of young people and students. Or Yan-yan, a member of Justice and Peace in Hong Kong said that in asking for the truth about the events on June 4, "we pass the torch to the next generation”.
Or Yan-yan has called the seizure of the statues, an act of oppression of a peaceful movement. According to her, the government move shows that the police is clamping down on human rights protesters, despite the peaceful nature of the protests.
On May 28, Card. Zen presided at a Mass in commemoration of the dead in Tiananmen, at the Church of St. Andrew. In the presence of 300 faithful, he gave a sermon on "Blessed are the persecuted."
The 78-year-old cardinal said that the commemoration of the events of June 4 by the Catholics is not motivated by revenge, but only by a desire for justice and clarification of history. 'The truth about this massacre – he explained - must be clarified and that decision can no longer be delayed.
The victims of democracy and their mothers are patriots, they should be respected and no longer called "rebels". If the June 4 massacre is not vindicated, one can hardly believe Chinese authorities would respect them”
The cardinal recalled his recent pilgrimage to Turin (northern Italy), to venerate the Holy Shroud. Card. Zen revealed that he prayed for the sacrifice of so many persecuted, who courageously continue in their quest for justice before the Holy Shroud.
At the Mass, the faithful placed several candles on a map of China and prayed for the victims [Tiananmen], their mothers and Catholics on the continent.
Photo: Justice and Peace Commission, Hong Kong
.png)
