HONG KONG -- Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents held a candlelight vigil Thursday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, as Beijing and the rest of mainland China remained under a clampdown around the politically sensitive day.
Hong Kong's annual vigil marks the world's largest remembrance of the deadly Chinese government response to a 1989 pro-democracy demonstration in Beijing, and is the only major one held publicly on Chinese soil. Hong Kong police estimated it drew about 62,800 attendees. Organizers said about 150,000 people attended, which they said was the largest since the first vigil 19 years ago.
"We're here to say that we still remember," said Alex Cheng, a 64-year-old driver who has attended every year for 20 years. "China's leaders have to come out and apologize for their actions."
As attendees raised candles and traditional Chinese instruments were played, demonstrators chanted, "Vindicate the student movement of 1989!"
The major gathering in Hong Kong contrasted with the near-silence on the mainland in the face of tight security and media and Internet restrictions. In Beijing, tourists were allowed into Tiananmen Square, but the atmosphere remained tense as uniformed police watched passersby, and plainclothes officers stood at intervals along nearby Chang'an Avenue.
Chinese officials Thursday criticized remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who issued a statement this week remembering "the tragic loss of hundreds of innocent lives" during what she called "the violent suppression of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square."
China's foreign ministry expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with Mrs. Clinton's comments.
"We urge the U.S. side to put aside its political prejudices and correct its wrongdoings so as to avoid bringing interference and damage to Sino-U.S. relations," a ministry spokesman said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
As memories of the event have faded, and as China's explosive growth has brought prosperity to Hong Kong and the mainland, turnout for the annual candlelight vigil has waned in recent years. But on Thursday crowds filled the park amid renewed attention.
The question in Hong Kong of how to remember the event burst into the public square last month, when the city's top official, Donald Tsang, told the city's legislature he represented Hong Kong people in saying that the event happened a long time ago, and that China's growth had brought prosperity to Hong Kong. The comment drew a backlash, and Mr. Tsang apologized, calling it a slip of the tongue.
The vigil also comes just after the publication of a secret memoir by the late Communist Party Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who sympathized with the student movement and was ousted shortly after the crackdown. Chinese-language editions of the memoir, based on audiotapes smuggled out of China and published in Hong Kong last month, have been sold out here.
Hong Kong is economically dependent on mainland China but holds strong feelings about Beijing's handling of the student movement. According to a poll from Hong Kong University, 69% of citizens feel the Chinese government's handling of the movement was wrong, the strongest response since 1996. At the same time, the polls show that 46% of respondents think China needs economic development more than democratic development.
—Loretta Chao in Beijing contributed to this article.
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