Vancouver’s “Victoria Park” Mourns June 4th

VSSDM溫哥華支聯會
Jun 5
4 min read

A Thousand Five Hundred Candles in Support of the Hong Kong Alliance

(Vancouver) June 4th is an everlasting pain for all Chinese, a shame that the Chinese communists could not wipe away, as well as an episode that would remain in the consciousness of all Chinese living overseas. On this 36th anniversary of Beijing’s June 4th massacre, and for the third year in a row, downtown Vancouver’s David Lam Park was transformed into “Victoria Park”, in the candlelight vigil hosted by the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement (VSSDM), with this year’s theme being “An inextinguishable candlelight, a support for the Hong Kong Alliance, and a turnout of about 1,500 Vancouver residents.

Thirty-six years have passed, why are still insisting on remembering June 4th? In his remarks, VSSDM president Edmund Leung answered this question by saying that we are demanding justice for the victims of June 4th, “because this is our conscience.” He emphasized that we would not remain silent, we would not forget, and we would never give up commemorating June 4th. He pointed out that one of the former Hong Kong’s greatest asset was its freedom, human rights and rule of law, but ever since the forced enactment of the “National Security Law” as well as Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, all that remains of Hong Kong is an empty shell. What is even more heartbreaking is that three former presidents and vice-presidents of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (Hong Kong Alliance), Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho Chun-yan, and Chow Hang-tung, have all been incarcerated in Hong Kong’s prison for over a thousand days. And what is their crime? No more than remembering June 4th, holding on to the truth, and demanding justice for the victims of June 4th. How absolutely absurd is Hong Kong’s Chinese communist government! Edmund also criticized the long arm of the Chinese communists, extending its nefarious hands all the way to Canada. Two Canadian citizens, Joe Tay and Victor Ho, have been found guilty of offences under the so-called “National Security Law”, with a bounty on their heads by the Hong Kong authorities. As we are remembering June 4th, we must come forward and fight to maintain Canada’s democracy!

In his remarks, Hong Kong Alliance’s former standing committee member Mak Hoi-wah pointed out that it has been 36 years since the June 4th massacre, and yet the Chinese communist authorities have never thoroughly investigated the truth about June 4th, never apologized for setting tanks and machines guns upon its own citizens, never compensated to families of victims; their system does not allow for any dissenting voice, does not allow media to report the truth, and never allow the people to enjoy some basic human rights. This is why we are still commemorating June 4th. He commented on the thirty-plus years of work of the Hong Kong Alliance, beginning in 1989, as well as how they were brutally suppressed by the Hong Kong authorities in 2019 and after. He quoted the words of one of the Tiananmen mothers, Zhang Xianling, that we must seek the truth, refuse to forget, insist on justice, and call upon the best within our conscience.

Giggs, an online commentator who was incarcerated for 32 months by Hong Kong authorities as part of 2019’s ant-extradition movement, stressed during his remarks, “Today, I am not here alone, I am here along with a long string of persons, I am here along with Chow Hang-tung, I am here with Ho Chun-yun, I am here with Lee Cheuk-yan, I am here with Mr. Jimmy Lai, I am here with “The 47’s”, whether their jail cell is large or small, and I am here along with all those Hong Kongers who remember June 4th, all who are here tonight at David Lam Park, on this 36th anniversary of June 4th, who are here together in mourning.” He revealed that Chow Hang-tung has been subjected to solitary confinement in prison, and was going through a 36-hour hunger strike; Lee Cheuk-yan had to undergo operation for gallstones, and is suffering from ill health. Giggs also stressed that if there is a day that no one remembers June 4th, then another June 4th would inevitably take place in a different time, in a different place, and to different people. He exhorted everyone never to forget June 4th.

There were also speeches by Diana Larry, who was present in Beijing during the massacre on June 4th, Dan Hao, a representative of the China Democratic Party, Billy Fung, former president of The University of Hong Kong’s Student Union, and Alex Chow, former secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. The organizer also played a recorded excerpt of comments by the 87-year-old Zhang Xianling, one of the Tiananmen mothers.

2025 6.4 Event Time Table

1. 為自由 (歌曲 )

2. 五月的陽光 (歌曲)

3. O Canada + MC

4. Speaker: Edmund Leung (VSSDM Chair)

5. Speaker: Mak Hoi Wah

6. Song #1

7. Speaker: Prof. Diana Larry

8. Song #2

9. Giggs

10. Song #3: 自由花

11. Speaker: China Democracy Party representative