Hundreds of people gathered in Taipei on Saturday to mark the 33rd anniversary of China’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Heavy security was deployed in Chinese-run Hong Kong to prevent any form of protest.
Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of Chinese military opening fire to put an end to the student-led uprising in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. China has never released an official death toll from the events on June 4, 1989, but rights groups and witnesses claim the number could be in the thousands.
China prohibits any public commemoration of the event on the mainland, and hong kong authorities have also tightened restrictions, leaving democratic taiwan as the only portion of the chinese-speaking world where it can be openly honoured.
‘It’s a metaphor of how democracy is both valuable and fragile, and how people who care about democracy must stand up for it or else authoritarians worldwide will think people don’t care,’ said novelist jeremy chiang, 27, who was in attendance at the event in taipei’s liberty square.
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