The organizers and participants of the annual vigil in Macau for the victims of the Tiananmen massacre admit that the evocation of June 4, 1989 is being held in private this year, given the “increasing hostile political environment”.
Instead of the vigil in honor of the victims of the Tiananmen massacre, which is held annually at the Largo do Senado in Macau, the activist Au Kam San will broadcast live on Facebook the image of a lit candle.
“It means that the candlelight of June 4 will never go out in Macau,” he told Lusa.
For those who used to participate in the traditional vigil or visit the traveling exhibition on the events of 1989, it now remains to evoke the victims of Tiananmen off the streets. And Au Kam San anticipated, recalling on social networks the movement from the day the student occupation of the largest square in China began.
As the exhibition cannot be organized, I decided to publish a daily article on my Facebook from April 15, describing the events of 1989 and the impact they had on the trip until June 4”, he says.
This Saturday marks 33 years since the Chinese army advanced with tanks to disperse peaceful protests led by students, who called for democratic reforms for the country, causing a death toll that is still a matter of discussion. Estimates reach 10,000 victims, although Beijing claims that the repression of “counterrevolutionary riots” caused the death of two hundred civilians.
Ng Kuok Cheong, also the founder of the Macau Union for the Development of Democracy (UMDD), which used to organize the exhibition and vigil in Macau, confirmed to Lusa have not approached the authorities this year – for the first time – no request to publicly mark the date.
“Of course, in private we do what we should do,” stresses the former deputy, for whom “that is a decision of each one.” Ng warns: “But we can’t reveal what we’re going to do.”
A Lusa, the Public Security Police Corps, which by law must be notified of the organization of meetings or demonstrations, confirmed that as of May 31 they had not received “any prior notice” about the vigil.
The president of the Institute of Municipal Affairs (IAM), José Tavares, rejected any request regarding the exhibition, where images and documents about the Tiananmen Square massacre had arrived at that department.
In the last two years, the IAM has not authorized the use of public spaces for photographic exhibitions. Also in 2020, the authorities prohibited, in Macau and Hong Kong, for the first time in 30 years, the holding of vigils in public spaces, in a decision justified by the work to prevent Covid-19.
The following year, the PSP quoted for the first time political reasons for prohibiting the commemoration, alleging a risk of violations of the Criminal Code, namely, the articles on the “offense to the legal entity that exercises public power” and the “incitement to violent alteration of the established system.” A decision subsequently validated by the Court of Final Appeal (TUI), when the decision of the authorities was appealed.
In response to Lusa, the office of the Secretary of Security, Wong Sio Chak, points out that “the rights and freedom of assembly and expression of the residents of Macau” are always “respected and guaranteed, in accordance with the law”, however They refuse to do it.” commenting on specific cases.
However, in a statement released last year, the government considered that the vigil could pose a threat to national security.
Au Kam San highlights that, in this “increasingly hostile political environment in Macau”, and with the TUI interpreting the tribute as a risk of “defaming the Chinese government” and likely to be “seen as a criminal offence”, UMDD members expressed their “deep concern”, and advised against taking the historic moment to the streets of Macau.
This fact “is not a symptom of a healthy situation”, reacts the lawyer João Manuel Vicente.
Living in the territory for more than a decade, the Portuguese remembers to honor “always”, in the Largo do Senado, the memory of the students who lost their lives during the protest movement, in what he describes as a “movement and symbolism ” in the Chinese administrative region.
“What we know this year is much less than what we knew in previous years, less and less is being said about this issue,” he says.
“[A vigília] it was a sign of the great freedom of the cityof frankness and it was assumed and treated with normality and naturalness”, he adds.
João Manuel Vicente admits the possibility of evoking this year the moment between the “circle of friends and relatives” and with the reading on the subject “through the media, for now free” to “seek extra information” and “revisit the subject ”.
Ng Kuok Cheong says that UMDD’s option to suspend public events could be temporary and stresses the importance of taking care of this “very important memory”.
“Of course we will save and protect all the material,” he says in reference to the images and information that make up the compilation of the events of June 4.
“For the Chinese Communist Party, this [recordar Tiananmen] is a problem, not only for national security, but because a political battle is being created around what democracy is in the world, and, with regard to June 4, there is a fight for a reinterpretation of history and do everything possible to stop any negative elements”, he adds.
Source: Observadora
