Hong Kong's Tiananmen candlelight vigil snuffed out

Organizers of annual memorial to 1989 crackdown jailed on subversion charges

Hong Kong's annual Tiananmen vigil used to draw huge crowds. The image on the left shows Victoria Park in 2021, and the other image shows the vigil in 2019 before the pandemic and the implementation of the national security law. (Source photo by Reuters)

PAK YIU, Nikkei staff writer

June 2, 2022 13:55 JST

Updated on June 2, 2022 17:54 JST

HONG KONG -- A Hong Kong park that for decades hosted a candlelight vigil to remember China's bloody 1989 Tiananmen crackdown will sit empty Saturday as a far-reaching security law crushes hopes of holding memorial events across the city.

Authorities cited the pandemic over the past two years to ban the world's biggest Tiananmen commemoration from being held in sprawling Victoria Park.