960406

HK group commemorates

China,s democracy movement

HONG KONG: Hong Kong democracy activists on Saturday commemorated the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing and vowed to carry on with similar activities after the British colony's return to Chinese rule next year.

Members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China collected signatures of support, distributed stickers and handed out a booklet on the 1989 student-led protest around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

"We'll continue to organise such functions (after the handover)," campaigner and legislator Szeto Wah said.

"They (Chinese officials) will have to give reasons if they don't allow us to. Under the one-country two-system policy, we should have the freedom of assembly, association, marching and demonstration."

China, which is scheduled to take back Hong Kong from Britain in mid-1997, has promised to maintain the territory's capitalist way of life.

Passersby offered their support to the campaigners with signatures and donations. "I support them because I am a Chinese," one woman said.

Szeto urged people not to forget the pro-democracy movement and those killed when Chinese troops and tanks crushed the student-led demonstration around Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

When news of the bloody crackdown reached Hong Kong, up to one million people braved typhoon-force winds and rain to express their grief and anger in marches and demonstrations.

The crackdown plunged the territory into its worst crisis of confidence in the run-up to the handover.

While the anger has cooled over the years, the territory remains nervous over the sincerity of Beijing's promise of a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong.

There have been protests over Beijing's decision to scrap the current legislature, where pro-democracy activists are strongly represented, and replace it temporarily with an appointed body.-Reuter