Hong Kong police detain activists on Tiananmen Square anniversary

Hong Kong police have detained a number of political activists marking the anniversary on Sunday of the bloody crushing of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests 34 years ago.

Police said they had arrested eight activists on Saturday for "disruptive actions" or disturbance of the public order. Public commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square events is banned in the Chinese special administrative region.

Up to 2019, tens of thousands gathered annually in Hong Kong on June 4 to commemorate the victims of the massacre.

In the years since, Beijing has increased its control over the independently administered former British colony. Broadly drafted security legislation has been used to suppress political opposition.

Public commemoration of the victims of the event, often referred to in the West as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, has always been banned in mainland China, with rights activists and relatives of the victims placed under house arrest or transferred to other regions.

Ahead of the anniversary, the Tiananmen Mothers – a group of relatives of the victims – demanded that the truth about the military deployment in 1989 be revealed and compensation paid, and that those responsible should face justice.

Several hundred people are thought to have died on the "Gate of Heavenly Peace Square" in central Beijing when Chinese troops crushed demonstrations that had been proceeding peacefully for weeks beforehand.

The precise number is unknown. Thousands were injured and arrested, and the issue remains taboo in China.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called on the Chinese government to reflect on the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement and expressed the hope that young Chinese would one day have the freedom to express their opinions.

An event in Taipei commemorating the massacre has been planned for Sunday evening.