Demonstration outside New China News Agency, Hong Kong,
to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Incident of 1976 (April 5, 1998)
About 30 demonstrators representing five groups gathered
outside a downtown Japanese Emporium and marched to Xinhua,
Hong Kong (New China News Agency) to commemorate the
Tiananmen Square Incident of 1976.
April 5 is the Ching Ming Festival according to the Chinese lunar
calendar. It is the traditional day for the Chinese people to go to
the graveyard to pay their respect to their ancestors.
The group brought along a ten foot wreath for the 'Heroes of the
People', referring to those who died in suppressions under CCP's
dictatorial rule.
They chanted slogans like, 'Long live the heroes of the people!',
'End the one party dictatorship', 'Power to the people', 'Release
Wang Dan', 'Release Guo Yu', ... before setting out on their march.
The police escorted the procession in the half hour walk to Xinhua.
There was a brief moment of tension when the police blocked the
group from placing the wreath outside the main gate of Xinhua. A
minor scuffle broke out when the group pressed forward with the
wreath. In the end, the police allowed the wreath to be placed
against a railing set up a couple of feet from the main gate. Then
the demonstrators stood in silence for two minutes to pay their
respect to the forerunners of the democracy movement who paid
a dear price for their struggle.
Leung Kwok-hung, the spokesperson of the group, read out a
statement, recounting the different movements since 1976 and the
sufferings of the activists who were and still are brutally repressed
by the Chinese Government.
He also specifically made the point that after the Western
countries declared that they would not denounce the Chinese
Government over its human rights record, the Beijing authorities
had stepped up the arrest of the activists.
From March 18 onwards, thirteen people from seven provinces
were taken into custody and six were detained. Two activists were
handed down sentences of three years of 'education through
lobour' without a trial.
Leung said these people had done nothing apart from writing
letters asking for the formation of the independent trade unions, or
voicing out their opposition to Li-peng becoming the Chairperson
of the National People's Congress.
He also appealed to the international community to press for the
release of all imprisoned democracy activists.
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