Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities are snuffing out any remembrance of the deadly 1989 military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, which happened 37 years ago Thursday, in a further tightening in a yearslong campaign to erase what happened from public memory.

Police told relatives of the victims they would not be allowed to visit a cemetery in Beijing on the anniversary of the crackdown, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retribution.

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Relatives from a group called Tiananmen Mothers visited the graves for more than 30 years, reading memorial statements while police kept watch, Amnesty International said.

Hundreds of people, and possibly thousands, were killed in 1989 as troops advanced through crowds that were trying to stop the military from reaching the protesters on Tiananmen Square, a vast plaza in the center of the Chinese capital. The decision by the Communist Party leadership to send in the military was a pivotal moment in China's modern history, determining that the market reform that transformed the country into the world's second largest economy would not be coupled with political liberalization.

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In Hong Kong, police stepped up security Thursday at or near a park where a massive candlelight vigil lit up the night every year until a clampdown following major anti-government protests in 2019. A handful of people showed up in the evening. Officers allowed some to go freely — including a man holding flowers and an activist who said she bowed 37 times — but took at least five others away.

The U.S., the EU and Britain posted messages on social media marking the anniversary. "No amount of censorship can erase the past," a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio read. "Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday." Rows of electronic candles lit up the windows of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed his words as a smear on her nation's political system. "We urge the U.S. side to ... stop using so-called democracy and human rights as a pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs," she said.

The chairs of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China also issued a statement, saying the Chinese Communist Party "can censor history; it cannot silence memory."

On Thursday, a number of U.S. lawmakers, former student leaders from the 1989 movement and their supporters gathered on the U.S. Capitol Hill to commemorate the anniversary. Among them was Arthur Liu, father of the Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu and a former student leader. He urged the public to remember the movement and not to forget those who are still in jail for their pro-democracy activism stemming from the Tiananmen days.

Tiananmen Mothers calls crackdown a crime

Tiananmen Mothers issued an annual appeal for justice ahead of this year's anniversary. The statement, signed by 107 people, demanded full disclosure of what happened, compensation for the victims and their families and the pursuit of legal accountability for those responsible.

"The sacrifice of our family members is an indelible pain etched in our hearts. Our tears have run dry, grief is buried deep within, what remains is eternal remembrance of our family members and hatred for the crime of massacring the people," Zhang Xianling, a member of the group, said in a video message posted on Facebook — which is blocked in China.

Amnesty said it is deeply troubling that China's suppression of the commemoration appears to be escalating. "Banning the relatives of people killed in the Tiananmen crackdown from visiting their loved ones' graves is a heartless act by the Chinese authorities," Sarah Brooks, the organization's deputy director for Asia, said in a statement.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

Hong Kong has banned an annual vigil

Authorities in Hong Kong have banned the vigil since 2020, at first citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Simon Ng, a past participant, walked around the nearby Causeway Bay shopping district to mark the anniversary. "There are some things I can neither forget nor let go, so I have to come and and take a walk," he said.

Three of the organizers of the vigil have been charged under a 2020 national security law. One pleaded guilty, which may result in a lesser sentence. The other two have been tried and are awaiting a verdict.

One of them, lawyer Chow Hang-tung, said in an online post published last weekend that she would go on a 37-hour hunger strike in prison. "Behind the glitter of power and dictatorship lies the blood and broken dreams of ordinary people. For in amnesia lies the demise of democracy," she wrote.

Derek Chu, a former district councilor, said on Instagram that he visited Chow on Thursday and told her he would also stop eating for 37 hours in support. He added that a shop he runs is giving out LED candles that can be used to remember the victims.

An annual vigil was held in Taiwan, but a driving thunderstorm reduced turnout to about 200 people. China, which claims the self-governing island as its territory, sanctioned four New Zealand lawmakers on Thursday to protest their recent visit to Taiwan.

Leung reported from Hong Kong. AP video journalist Taijing Wu in Taipei, Taiwan and reporter Didi Tang in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.