Editorial | Tiananmen vigil message wins in numbers game
- The discrepancy in attendance figures provided by organisers of the annual memorial and police is nothing new, but the huge, peaceful crowd was impressive
Tuesday night’s candlelight vigil marking the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown was both poignant and powerful.
The crowds, young and old, who gathered in Victoria Park provided a fitting memorial to those who died when pro-democracy protests were crushed by the military in Beijing in 1989.
Participants sang songs, shouted slogans, or were just there to remember. The attendance was, no doubt, swollen by concerns about plans to introduce a new extradition law allowing crime suspects to be transferred to the mainland. The number of participants is, however, in dispute.
Organisers say more than 180,000 attended. The police put the figure at a much more conservative 37,000. We have become familiar with such discrepancies in Hong Kong, which apply not only to the vigil, but also to major protests. A march planned for Sunday against the extradition bill will be no exception.
Greater attention has been paid to attendance figures since the July 1 march in 2003 against planned national security laws, which drew at least 500,000 people. That march led to the withdrawal of the planned legislation. The figure of half a million is generally accepted, although some argue even more people attended.
