Organizers claim record turnout in Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil (Roundup)

Jun 4, 2009, 14:19 GMT

A man stands in a crowd wearing a t-shirt that reads \'Support the Tiananmen Mothers\' at a candle-lit vigil to mark the 20th anniversary of the Beijing June 4th 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, in Hong Kong, China, 04 June 2009. EPA/PAUL HILTON

Hong Kong - Tens of thousands people crowded into Hong Kong's Victoria Park Thursday night to attend a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy uprising in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Organizers put the figure at 100,000, which if correct would make the turnout the largest ever for the annual rally, the only public commemoration on Chinese soil.

In the past organizers have claimed numbers as high as 70,000, although official police estimates also put the figures much lower.

Last year, organizers said 48,000 people took part compared to the police figure of a much lower 16,000.

People began streaming into the park early in the evening and were still arriving at 9pm, making the park a sea of candlelight.

On the stage was a banner proclaiming in Chinese: 'June 4th, 20 years - passing the fire to the next generation.'

During the evening, those taking part observed a minute's silence for the dead and listened to speeches by former students who took part in the 1989 protest.

One of those speaking was Xiong Yan, who fled to the United States in 1992 and was considered one of the 21 most-wanted protest leaders by China.

Xiong stepped on Chinese soil for the first time in 17 years when he returned to Hong Kong last Saturday.

However, other students leaders were refused entry into Hong Kong, prompting claims that the government had a blacklist.

Xiang Xiaoji, one of the student leaders who spoke to government officials in Beijing in 1989 before the protests were crushed, was put on a plane back to the US by immigration officials at Hong Kong International Airport early Wednesday.

Three other Chinese dissidents living in the US were also refused entry to Hong Kong along with Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, known for his work on Tiananmen called The Pillar of Shame.

The government of Hong Kong has denied it has a blacklist saying it only kept a surveillance list and considered each case individually.

People in Hong Kong were horrified by the events of June 4, 1989, when troops killed hundreds and possibly thousands of student protestors in the heart of the Chinese capital.

The massacre had particular poignancy for people in the city of 7 million, then still a British colony but only eight years away from reverting to Chinese rule in 1997.

Although Hong Kong is now part of China, the annual Tiananmen commemoration is allowed because of Hong Kong's status as a special administrative region where citizens are granted freedom of speech.