Hong Kong Police Detain Protesters Commemorating Tiananmen Anniversary

Hong Kong Police Detain Protesters Commemorating Tiananmen Anniversary

Police officers in Hong Kong have detained several protesters who defied the COVID-19 ban and gathered to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre on Thursday, live videos from the scene showed

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2020) Police officers in Hong Kong have detained several protesters who defied the COVID-19 ban and gathered to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre on Thursday, live videos from the scene showed.

According to live video feeds streamed by local media outlets, a group of police officers tackled a number of protesters to the ground and detained them, after several of them set up roadblocks on a road in Mong Kok district in the city.

Thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Hong Kong to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the massacre that happened in Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital Beijing in 1989. Back then, a student-led protest being held in Beijing's Tiananmen Square was dispersed by the army, leaving over 200 dead and 7,000 injured.

The incident is commemorated on June 4 each year and Hong Kongers used to hold candlelight vigils on each anniversary after 1989.

But this year, local authorities in Hong Kong prohibited public gatherings for commemoration due to COVID-19 pandemic.

However, local activists argued that the government just used COVID-19 as an excuse to prevent locals from expressing their anger amid growing outcry over the disputed national security law proposed by Beijing.

Meanwhile, both the central government in Beijing and the local government in Hong Kong stressed that the proposed new law was aimed at safeguarding national security and would not reduce the democratic rights of local residents in Hong Kong.

A number of countries including the United States and the United Kingdom have called on Beijing to reconsider introducing the legislation and have threatened to introduce sanctions against China and Hong Kong if the law is passed.

Other countries including Russia, stressed that issues related to Hong Kong are China's domestic affairs and should not be interfered with.