UK: Campaigners to hold Tiananmen vigil outside Chinese Embassy - 4 June

Candles will be held aloft and famous ‘white paper’ protest emulated

Protest will also highlight current intimidation of Chinese/Hong Kong people in UK

‘The anniversary of the brutal Tiananmen crackdown is a stark reminder of the lengths to which the Chinese authorities will go to silence dissent’ - Sacha Deshmukh

‘The spirit of resistance in Tiananmen and in other places has never died’ - Dr Shao Jiang

Amnesty International UK and the campaign group June Fourth Sparks will hold a vigil outside the Chinese Embassy in London on Sunday 4 June (8-10pm) to mark the 34th anniversary of the Chinese authorities’ bloody crackdown against peaceful demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

Campaigners will hold aloft candles and sheets of white paper, echoing the white paper pro-democracy protests held last year in cities across China.

The Chinese authorities continue to conceal information on the events of this period and ruthlessly crush any modern protests associated with it. Up until 2020, Hong Kong was the only part of China where the massacre could be commemorated. However, under the territory’s draconian National Security Law it is now prohibited to publicly commemorate what happened in Tiananmen in 1989.

Some people have paid a heavy price for defying this ban. These include Chow Hang-Tung, who in 2021 encouraged people on social media to light candles in memory of the killings. She was arrested and remains in prison.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

“The anniversary of the brutal Tiananmen crackdown is a stark reminder of the lengths to which the Chinese authorities will go to silence dissent.

“Protest continues to be ruthlessly crushed in both mainland China and in Hong Kong, with the long arm of Chinese state repression extending far beyond its borders to communities living in the UK.

“The UK government must defend Hong Kong and mainland Chinese people living here from Beijing’s efforts to intimidate and silence them - it’s vital their rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression are protected.”

Dr Shao Jiang, June Fourth Sparks’ co-founder, said:

“The 1989 movement was a movement for human rights, freedom, democracy and equality for all. Its goal was for every person to enjoy equal political, economic, social and cultural rights.

“Over the past four years, the Chinese authorities’ refusal to release the truth about the Covid-19 pandemic and its suppression of doctors, journalists and activists’ efforts to investigate it and call for scientific methods to prevent the outbreak and protect people, has resulted in the loss of many lives, including some of the mothers of those who took part in the 1989 protests and became activists themselves.

“The spirit of resistance in Tiananmen and in other places has never died. The dignity and courage of the ‘tank man’ are embodied in the movement to defend people’s rights and a new citizen movement, labour movement and movement against the Chinese Communist Party, as well as the feminist movement whose spirit keeps inspiring us in our struggles ahead.”

On 4 June 1989, following months of protests in Tiananmen Square, troops and tanks fired on unarmed demonstrators. The number of civilian deaths and injuries is still unknown.

Dr Shao Jiang was student protester

Dr Shao Jiang was heavily involved in Chinese student movements from 1985 to 1989 as a student at Beijing University. On 17 April 1989, he drafted a list of demands with his fellow students, with these later becoming one of the main manifestos of the 1989 pro-democracy movement. On the evening of 3 June, Shao witnessed the killings by security forces in West Chang’an Avenue before running back to Tiananmen Square to warn fellow protesters of what was coming. He was among the last group of protesters to leave the square early on the morning of 4 June. He was jailed for 18 months in a series of provincial and national prisons from 1989 to 1991, and again put in detention centres and under house arrest for his involvement in civil resistance between 1994 and 1997. He fled China in 1997 and has been in the UK since 2003. He is co-founder of June Fourth Sparks: https://64sparks.blogspot.com/

Details of vigil

What: campaigners will hold candles and sheets of white paper, echoing the white paper pro-democracy protests held last year in cities across China

When: Sunday 4 June 2023, from 8-10pm

Speakers: Include Chinese, Hong Kong, Uyghur and Tibetan activists

Where: outside the Chinese Embassy: 49-51 Portland Place, London W1B 1JL

**Local Amnesty groups will also hold vigils in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Sheffield on the same day**