Heavy police presence on eve of Tiananmen anniversary, performance artist escorted away by officers
A heavy police deployment has been spotted in Causeway Bay on the eve of the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary, with a performance artist being searched and escorted to an MTR station.
Police officers patrolled Victoria Park – the former site of the city's annual vigils for the Tiananmen crackdown – and its vicinity on Tuesday, one day before the 36th anniversary of the crackdown.
Outside the Sogo department store, plainclothes officers stopped and searched performance artist Chan Mei-tung as she was chewing bubble gum.
The officers set up a cordon and told reporters to stay on the other side of the road as they warned Chan and filmed the scene.
They then escorted Chan to the Causeway Bay MTR station and waved goodbye to her as she walked through the station's gates, photos from local media outlets showed.
Chan was arrested for disorderly conduct on the eve of the anniversary in 2022, after standing outside Sogo and peeling potatoes.
Hometown Market
Meanwhile, a patriotic food carnival called the Hometown Market in Victoria Park attracted 100 to 200 visitors on Tuesday afternoon.
Booths manned by pro-Beijing groups sold food like broth packs and roasted lamb, while visitors played with virtual reality headsets and robots.
The five-day event, which began on Sunday, will continue until Thursday. According to the organiser, the market features nearly 300 booths involving 30 clan associations representing provinces across mainland China, such as Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi.
This is the third year that the Hometown Market has been held in Victoria Park on the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Beijing-imposed national security law, tens of thousands of Hongkongers gathered for an annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park on June 4 to mourn the bloody crackdown on student-led protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The number of deaths is not known, but it is believed that hundreds, if not thousands, perished during the People's Liberation Army's dispersal of protesters, which ended on June 4, 1989.
Police banned the Tiananmen vigil gathering at Victoria Park for the first time in 2020, citing Covid-19 restrictions, and imposed the same ban in 2021, nearly a year after the national security law came into effect.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised the vigils, disbanded in September 2021 after several of its members were arrested.
Commemorations by small shops
While there have not been any major commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown in recent years, small shops have taken it upon themselves to mark the anniversary.
Heung Together, a shop in Sham Shui Po selling incense and fragrances, published a post on Instagram, saying that it was selling tea candles for '$6.4.'
Tea candles have 'multiple uses,' the post on Monday read, including for mourning victims, serving as a light source during blackouts, and warming up teapots.
The shop is run by former Tsuen Wan district councillor Katrina Chan.
AsOne, a shop owned by another ex-district councillor, Derek Chu, posted on Instagram on Monday that it would display candles on June 4 to 'mourn the students and citizens who sacrificed themselves for the pro-democracy movement.'
Chu has also staged commemorations in previous years. Last year, he displayed candles in his shop but removed them after plainclothes officers visited.
In 2023, Chu attempted to organise a private screening of a documentary called To Be Continued, which is about the State Theatre building in North Point, on June 4.
However, Golden Scene Cinema, which hosted the screening, cancelled the event days before it, saying it was reminded by an industry representative that the date of the planned screening was 'sensitive.'
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