This Saturday (4th) marks the 33rd anniversary of the "June 4th Incident", but the stake that held the June 4th Victoria Park rally for many years was disbanded last year, and this year will be the third year without a night without the June 4th candlelight rally in Victoria Park.
The LCSD said a few days ago that due to the epidemic, the Victoria Park hard-surface football stadium only allows reservations to be used for football games. In addition, no organization has applied for the resumption of candlelight gatherings. It is believed that the scene of candlelight cannot be repeated.
Looking back on the June 4th in the past three years, the 2019 June 4th Dimension Park rally announced that the number of participants reached 180,000, breaking a new high since 2014. At that time, there were candlelight everywhere, and the crowds were even more crowded in Causeway Bay and Tin Hau.
However, with the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the June 4 candlelight rally in Victoria Park was not approved for the first time. However, the stake insisted on taking the lead in walking into Victoria Park to light the candlelight, and a large number of citizens followed and raised candlelight in mourning. up and down.
Until last year, which was the first June 4th after the "Hong Kong National Security Law" came into effect, the police directly blocked the Victoria Park, leaving only lonely spotlights shining on the stadium.
▼On the evening of June 4th in the past three years, from infinite candlelight to empty ▼
▼2019 Victoria Park June 4th Candlelight Gala was crowded with people, candlelight everywhere▼
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Since 1990, the stake has held a candlelight meeting in Victoria Park on the evening of June 4 every year. It has remained unchanged for many years.
2019 is the 30th anniversary of June 4th, and the amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance is brewing. The conference announced that the number of participants exceeded 180,000, only 200,000 in 2009.
There were a lot of people going to Victoria Park that night, and at one point they had to "play snake cakes" at the bus terminal near Tin Hau. Even after the rally started, the crowd continued to flow.
Pandemic bans gatherings to lead into Victoria Park jailed
However, the 2019 party was the last time in recent years that Victoria Park was lit by candlelight. In 2020, in response to the epidemic, the police pointed out that the party would increase the risk of infection, and issued a notice of objection to the stake. During the four-candlelight meeting, the LCSD also erected an iron fence in Victoria Park.
However, the ban did not prevent a large number of citizens from coming to Victoria Park to mourn.
However, the candlelight is scattered, and it is difficult to compare with the dense situation in previous years.
Afterwards, 26 pan-democrats who entered Victoria Park, including Lai Zhiying, Li Zhuoren, Cai Yaochang and Huang Zhifeng, were charged with illegal assembly and other crimes. Except for Luo Guancong and Zhang Kunyang who had left Hong Kong at the time, the remaining 24 people were all convicted and imprisoned 4 to 14 respectively. moon.
▼In 2020, the June 4th candlelight rally in Victoria Park was not approved for the first time, and the stake insisted on candlelighting in Victoria Park▼
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Last year was the first June 4th after the "Hong Kong National Security Law" came into effect. The police once again refused to approve the application for the June 4th Candlelight Gala on the grounds of the epidemic. In the afternoon of that day, the Victoria Park Football Stadium was surrounded by iron horses, and many people were stopped in Causeway Bay. people search.
That night, a few people lit candles in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. However, under the high-profile law enforcement by the police, the crowds and candle seas in Victoria Park were also scattered, and the scene of crowds of people disappeared.
This year is the first June 4th after the disbandment of the stake. The LCSD recently stated that due to the epidemic, applications for non-designated uses of the Victoria Park Stadium were suspended on that day, and the public could only make an appointment to play football.
The police appealed to the public not to participate in, publicize or announce any unauthorised assembly, and stressed that sufficient police would be deployed at the relevant locations on that day to enforce the law quickly and decisively.
The scene of a sea of candles in the Victoria Park Stadium may be difficult to repeat.
▼In 2021, the police will encircle the Victoria Park Football Stadium, and the crowd and the sea of candles will be "cleared"▼
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▼From 2016 to 2020, the June 4th Gala Victoria Park Football Stadium▼
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