Bobby Yip/Reuters
Hong Kong police say 99,500 people gathered in the city’s Victoria Park on Wednesday to honor the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Organizers claim as many as 180,000 were in attendance. The candlelight vigil to honor victims of Beijing’s bloody attack on protesters in 1989 stood in marked contrast to the absence of commemorative events in mainland China. At the time of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Hong Kong was under British rule but was handed over to China eight years later. State-controlled Chinese media, of course, ignored the anniversary, while the Chinese government continued its Internet censorship of anything related to the event. Hong Kong politician Lee Cheuk-yan told the crowd gathered in Victoria Park: “Let’s show our sea of lights to [President] Xi Jinping! Fight till the end!”