London: A number of rallies were organized in London and across Britain to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on Saturday.
In London, the "Unite for Democracy" rally was held in Whitehall, opposite 10 Downing Street from 4 pm to 5.30 pm. The rally was organized by Democracy for Hong Kong, Hong Kong Aid, Hong Kong Liberty, Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong, Hong Kong Assistance and Resettlement Community and Hongkongers in Britain.
It was supported by Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, Stop Uyghur Genocide, Free Tibet and World Uyghur Congress.
Leading activists Nathan Law, Finn Lau, Simon Cheng, Benedict Rogers and Luke de Pulford addressed the rally.
In the evening from 7.30 pm to 10 pm, there was a candlelight vigil outside the Chinese Embassy in London. This year Tiananmen massacre anniversary in London drew the biggest protesters with speakers from different persecuted communities and their supporters since it started 33 years ago.
Nathan law, a former member of the legislative council, spoke on the occasion and said students, intellectuals, and workers lost their life 33 years ago fighting for democracy and even now people of Hong Kong, Tibet and East Turkestan want democracy and accountability in China. But the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Xi Jinping is supporting the military in Myanmar, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and supporting Russia. Ben Rogers, Hong Kong Watch, speaking about the Tiananmen massacre, compared it with the war in Ukraine and said it is a war between dictatorship and democracy, authoritarianism and freedom. He came with a yellow umbrella as a symbol of solidarity with Hong Kong.
He said now people in Hong Kong don't have the freedom of speech and peaceful protest, they use to have, so people in the UK, who have that freedom must use it to support the people of Hong Kong.
Tsering Passang (Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities), said, "taking part in today's protest is a genuine show of our solidarity and support - from the people of Tibet - to Chinese friends in mainland China, Hong Kong and around the world for their quest for freedom, justice and democracy."
He said, "We in the free world must remind western political and business leaders who are proponents of the CCP regime that they must not forget their fundamental values and principles - the universal human rights - for short-term gains by working with the Chinese authoritarian regime."
The protests which were started on April 15 were forcibly suppressed on June 4 when China's military crackdown led to a massacre of students protesting for democratic reforms in various major cities across China.
The victims of the 1989 massacre are still waiting to get justice as accountability for the tragedy was never fixed.—ANI
