Predictably, the Chinese Communist Party has been going on high alert as the anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square approaches: “tightens surveillance, imposes travel restrictions…” (ANI News, June 1, 2026).
Chinese authorities have intensified surveillance and imposed restrictions on dissidents and activists across the country ahead of the 37th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to The Epoch Times.
The publication cited interviews with individuals who said they had been placed under close monitoring, confined to their homes, or warned against publicly discussing the anniversary….
The June 4, 1989, military crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy movement in Beijing resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries. The report noted that the Chinese government continues to treat public remembrance of the incident as a highly sensitive issue.
“Highly sensitive issue” means “forbidden so that the CCP can pretend the massacre didn’t happen and reduce the chances of widespread resistance to the state inspired by the spirit of Tiananmen Square.”
As the anniversary arrives, so does the final phase of a trial of Hongkongers charged with the dastardly crime of helping to organize the lighting of candles in remembrance of CCP crimes.
Hong Kong for decades was the only place in China where a large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown was held. The vigils were banned in 2020, and the two former organizers were charged in 2021 with inciting subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law that has virtually stifled the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, two former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, have pleaded not guilty. [Another defendant, Albert Ho, has pleaded guilty.] If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison….
Tens of thousands of people attended Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigils until authorities banned it in 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site was occupied instead by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups. Some people who tried to commemorate the event near the site on June 4, the crackdown’s anniversary, were detained.
In prison, Chow, a lawyer, has penned a statement about the importance of remembering Tiananmen Square and being able to talk about it.
“Resisting the encroachment of power, or even attempting to put it back in its cage, requires a steadfast return to fundamental human values, reclaiming our humanity from its clutches step by step. This legal battle is one such attempt: it is a demand that I do not speak words I do not believe, do not do things I ought not to do, and do not dwell on success or failure.
“Is it difficult? Yet this is nothing more than basic human nature. Who is born with an inherent desire to speak insincerely or act against their own conscience? Being one’s truest self ought to be the easiest, most natural thing in the world.”
