by Eugenia Zhang

Many Chinese from mainland China participate in the remembrance of those who died for democracy. Lee Cheuk-yan warns Hong Kong and Macao on democracy, which threatens to dissolve before the power of the Communist Party in Beijing. Justice and Peace in Hong Kong attends the vigil. Educating young people about the history of China, including that of the martyrs for democracy.

 Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - More than 150,000 people took part in the vigil in Victoria Park on the evening of 4 June to remember the victims of the 89 pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. Many participants in the rally came from mainland China, where it is impossible to stage such a public event. All they are seeking is the rehabilitation of victims.

In Macao at least 500 people gathered in the city's central square, opposite the church to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the massacre.

At Victoria Park, the participants observed a minute's silence for the victims of '89, but also asked the Chinese government to release the democratic dissidents and human rights activists arrested in recent months. Among them Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, lawyer Gao Zhisheng and artist Ai Weiwei.

Lee Cheuk-yan, Chairman of Hong Kong Alliance in support of democratic movements in China, read the final declaration: "Under the dictatorship of one party, we can not remain quiet in the illusion of the principle 'one country-two systems' [i]".

"China - Lee said - has no freedom, democracy, Hong Kong is hard to have real universal suffrage and its freedom will be threatened. Under China central government’s order, the Hong Kong government now launched ‘national education’ to force our next generation to accept the party instead of the country. The future could be a struggle of memory and forgetting, truth and emptiness, authoritarian and democratic cries. The Alliance will take the forefront in the fight till the end”.

As head of the Alliance, Lee took over from Szeto Wah, who died on January 2, 2011. Both are Protestant Christians. At the meeting pictures of Szeto, considered a great fighter for democracy in China, were on display.

Wang Dan, one of the historic leaders of the democracy movement of students in 89 (now in exile from China and Hong Kong), also sent a video message to participants. Wang Dan said that the repression to democracy by the current Chinese government is even greater and more serious than corruption, which has become a common mechanism in society.

Ding Zilin, who founded the group Mothers of Tiananmen, which represents the families of the victims, sent a recorded address. In it she said that the Chinese government since 89 has remained rigid and irrational, putting aside all justice, conscience, law, honesty, and even morality.

Among the participants there were also many who came specially from China. One of them, Chen, told AsiaNews. "In China we can not express our sympathy for those who sacrificed their lives for the democracy movement. I am really very happy to be here in Hong Kong and to express my grief for the dead, call for democracy. I hope that in future there will be more democracy and freedom in China. "

Some pinned jasmine flowers on their clothes, symbolic support for the "jasmine revolution" in China. Beijing has arrested dozens of activists in recent months to prevent a possible "peaceful revolution”, similar to that underway in the Middle East and North Africa.

Many parents took their children to the vigil, saying that they want younger people to know the truth about Chinese history, especially this year, the centenary of the 1911 revolution that brought down the Chinese empire opening the country to democracy and modernity.

Before the vigil, Catholic organizations "in support of patriotic and democratic movement in China" held a prayer meeting and some cultural activities in Victoria Park, praying for the victims of Tiananmen and for greater democracy and freedom. Lina Chan, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the diocese, told AsiaNews that today we can see that the Chinese care a lot to about human rights, even as China becomes more prosperous from the economic point of view. "All this -she said - is a comfort in the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the movement on June 4."

A young Catholic from Sichuan told AsiaNews that in China they can only learn a lot about the events of June 4 through foreign Web sites. This year she wanted to remember the victims of the massacre, at least in private. Also in Sichuan, especially in Chengdu, and in other parts of China, the police guarded the streets to prevent demonstrations or any form of event in memory of June 4.

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