Hundreds of police sealed off Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Friday, blocking access to the only venue in the whole of China where the commemoration of the events on June 4, 1989 in Beijing have been allowed over the past 30 years. The ban on the vigil – ostensibly due to Covid-19 concerns – left the park barricaded and empty, in stark contrast to the sea of candle lights for which it has become synonymous.

Victoria Park was empty on June 4 for the first time in 32 years in 2021. Photo: Kevin Cheng/United Social Press.
The Tiananmen Massacre vigil in 2020. Photo: Dominic Chiu/HKFP.
2019. Photo: Todd R. Darling/HKFP.
2018 Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP.
2017. Photo: Catherine Lai/HKFP.
2016. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP.
2015. Photo: Dale De La Rey/AFP.
2014. Photo: Philippe Lopez/AFP.
2013. Photo: Philippe Lopez/AFP.
2012. Photo: Philippe Lopez/AFP.
2011. Photo: Mike Clarke/AFP.
2010. Photo: Mike Clarke/AFP.
2009. Photo: Mike Clarke/AFP.
2008. Photo: Mike Clarke/AFP.
2007. Photo: Mike Clarke/AFP.
2006. Photo: Ted Aljibe.
2004. Photo: Richard A Brooks/AFP.
2000. Photo: Ira Chaplain/AFP.
1998. Photo: Peter Parks/AFP.
1990. Photo: Mike Fiala/AFP.

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Hong Kong Free Press is a new, non-profit, English-language news source seeking to unite critical voices on local and national affairs. Free of charge and completely independent, HKFP arrives amid rising concerns over declining press freedom in Hong Kong and during an important time in the city’s constitutional development.