香港警方連續第2年以疫情限制為由，禁止於6月4日舉行悼念中國1989年天安門大屠殺的年度燭光晚會。過去30年，每年有多達18萬人參加在維園舉行的悼念晚會。
兩天前澳門警察已以「煽動顛覆」為由，禁止於6月4日任何集會，這是當局首次明確提出以政治理由禁止六四活動。
無懼禁令，支聯會仍相信會有大量群眾當日紀念六四。會像去年那樣規模較小而不是大規模。支聯會和網上論壇呼籲市民在6月4日晚上8時點燃蠟燭──這不違法──悼念在中國仍然是忌諱的事件。
去年，過萬人違反禁令，在維園和平燭光下集會。
香港目前以疫情禁止超過4人在公眾場合聚會，因此幾乎不可能獲得抗爭集會的許可。
香港在上個月僅錄得少量來源不明的確診。 北京於去年6月30日頒布嚴苛的《國家安全法》，加上對冠狀病毒的限聚今，在2019年以來的社會事件及示威遊行，實際上已停止了香港的抗爭活動。
特首林鄭月娥上星期表示，大型藝術活動的回歸表明「香港已逐漸恢復正常」，上周有近3萬人參加了香港巴塞爾藝術展。同時，政府的西九龍文化區將於6月中旬舉行大型音樂節。
For the second consecutive year, Hong Kong police on Thursday banned the annual June 4 vigil commemorating China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre citing coronavirus restrictions. Up to 180,000 each year had joined the vigil held at Victoria Park for 30 years.
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil ban comes 2 days after neighbouring Macau Police refused any June 4 event for “inciting subversion”, the first time authorities have made clear a political reason for banning remembrance.
Despite the ban, organiser Hong Kong Alliance for Democracy in China expect a large turnout of people to mark the June 4 anniversary, though in small rather than big groups, like last year. The Alliance and online forums have called on people to light a candle at 8 pm on June 4 – which cannot be against the law – to remember those who lost their lives in an episode that remains taboo in China.
Tens of thousands defied that ban and rallied peacefully at the vigil in Victoria Park last year.
Hong Kong currently bans more than 4 people gathering in public under anti-coronavirus measures, making it all but impossible to get permission for protests.
In the last month the city has only registered a few local infections with unknown sources.
The draconian national security law imposed by Beijing last June 30, along with coronavirus restrictions, has virtually halted protests in Hong Kong after months of demonstrations and civic unrest in 2019.
Last week, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that the return of large-scale arts events showed “Hong Kong’s gradual return to normality” as nearly 30,000 attended Art Basel Hong Kong last week. Meanwhile, a large-scale music festival is set to take place in mid-June at the government’s West Kowloon Cultural District.
