Tens of thousands of people across Hong Kong lit candles and chanted democracy slogans on Thursday to commemorate China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown, defying a ban against gathering as tensions seethed over a planned new security law. The biggest crowds descended on Victoria Park that has hosted huge Tiananmen anniversary vigils for the past three decades, with smaller rallies erupting in multiple shopping districts and local neighbourhoods. The displays of resistance came hours after Hong Kong’s legislature passed a bill criminalising insults to China’s national anthem, which the pro-democracy movement sees as yet another example of eroding freedoms.
