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Hong Kong As It Is

23 years on: June 4 vigil

This year surely has attracted more people than ever to attend the annual June 4 candlelight vigil held in Victoria Park. I knew it when I saw that even the only path that was used for walking inside the football courts was blocked by people who arrived late.

And there were so many young people there. Many held the candles high when they were asked to do so  if they were not born when the 1989 pro-democracy movement happened.

Those in power try to distort history to their advantage. CY Leung, Hong Kong’s chief executive elect (elected by a few hundred), signed a declaration soon after the June 4 massacre to denounce it. Recently, he was captured smiling when he was asked to pay respect to those who died in the June 4 massacre. To top it all, he said Deng Xiao Ping, who ordered the army to brutally crush the democracy movement, should be awarded Nobel Prize Peace Award.

Lately, he refused to comment on June 4, saying that he has said much about the subject already.

So would you expect this future chief of Hong Kong to defend its citizens’ value of press and speech freedom? CY Lueng, catapulted to power by the influence of China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong,  is not to defend the value of this city, but to destroy it, the fears of many here have. That is the sad thing about this city.

On the other hand, the turn out of many last night is a show of determination of this city’s people to say no to CY Leung and all those who want to distort history for own benefits.

By Anna

With a wanderlust and lusts of other sorts, I look to sth new, sth different, sth fulfilling, and find myself on a journey...

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