Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, prayed for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and called for justice in his homily at a memorial Mass on Friday.
“We refuse to be pessimistic,” Cardinal Zen said. “We will not be disappointed. In the remembrance of the dead – those killed 32 years ago, our prayer is also for the Lord to lead the rulers to walk on the path of justice and peace.”
Several Catholic churches in Hong Kong held memorial Masses with people lighting candles and offering flowers to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in China on Friday.
Cardinal Zen said that the massacre may “gradually go far from us, but it seems to reappear before our eyes.”
At the United States consulate and European Union office in Hong Kong, candles flickered at windows throughout the buildings.
One church on Hong Kong island quickly reached its 30 percent capacity set by coronavirus restrictions and opened up its courtyard to accommodate more people.
Last year, thousands in Hong Kong defied the ban on marking the Tiananmen anniversary.
Prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong received a 10-month prison sentence last month for participating in the 2020 vigil, while three others got four-to six-month sentences.
Activist Chow Hang Tung was released on bail on Saturday, a day after she was detained on suspicion of promoting an unauthorized assembly to commemorate the 1989 event.
“There’s no logic in that. It’s a completely absurd charge, (a) complete abuse of power. I reject all the allegation,” she told reporters outside the police station.
The ban on the vigil and at least six arrests came amid growing concern in the pro-democracy movement and internationally about the suppression of the semi-autonomous city’s traditional freedoms, notably a national security law imposed by Beijing last year.
“I want to tell all who participated in this suppression of the Tiananmen remembrance event this year … don’t hide behind the technical provision of the public order ordinance anymore,” Chow said.
“Open your eyes and see what you are actually doing, what you are actually doing is to cover up the crime of the killers in 1989.”
Friday saw the authorities sealing off Victoria Park, site of the world’s largest Tiananmen vigils for more than three decades, to enforce a ban on the annual assembly for a second year due to coronavirus restrictions.
Before her arrest, Chow told Reuters that June 4 was a test for Hong Kong “of whether we can defend our bottom line of morality.”
“As long as they haven’t said candles are illegal, we will light a candle,” she said. Although she could not light a candle while in detention, she said she fasted during her detention.
Chow was released with a cash bail of HK$10,000 and due to report to the police station on July 5. – with reports from Reuters
