HONG KONG: Thousands of Hong Kongers took part in a candlelight vigil Sunday for victims of the Chinese government’s 1989 brutal military crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, while Taiwan’s leader called on Beijing to face up to the history, which is taboo on the mainland.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said in posts on Facebook and Twitter that 28 years ago, the actions of students and citizens who challenged the political system in China “inspired a generation.”
She appealed to Beijing to “face up to June 4 with an open mind” and said Taiwan was willing to share its experiences of transitioning to democracy in the late 1980s to ease the pains of such a transition in the mainland.
“For democracy: Some are early, others are late, but we will all get there in the end,” she wrote on Twitter.
Hundreds if not thousands of unarmed protesters and onlookers were killed late on June 3 and the early hours of June 4, 1989, after China’s communist leaders ordered the military to retake Tiananmen Square from the student-led demonstrators.
Commemoration of the Tiananmen events, whether public or private, remains taboo in mainland China, where many are only dimly aware of what happened. But it’s openly discussed in the self-governing island of Taiwan and in Hong Kong, a special Chinese region with much autonomy and legally entrenched freedom of speech and other civil rights unseen on the mainland.
The annual evening vigil in Hong Kong, which regularly draws tens of thousands, is the only large-scale commemoration on Chinese territory of the bloodshed almost three decades ago.
“I don’t want this part of history to become blurred,” said office worker Emily Yu, 42, who was attending the gathering in Victoria Park. “It was really a massacre of people. Those young people came out and did all they could for freedom and democracy but didn’t achieve it.”
In her posts, Taiwanese President Tsai also called on Beijing to let a pro-democracy activist from Taiwan who was detained in March on the mainland “come home.”
Lee Ming-che, detained on suspicion of conducting activities harming China’s national security, has previously conducted online lectures on Taiwan’s democratization and managed a fund for families of political prisoners in China.
Relations between Beijing and Taiwan have been near an all-time low since Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party has advocated for Taiwan’s formal independence, took over as president a year ago. Since then, Beijing has cut off contacts with Taiwan’s government and discouraged mainlanders from visiting the island as tourists.
The authoritarian Communist Party rulers in Beijing insist that Taiwan and the Chinese mainland are part of a single Chinese nation and have vowed to take control of the island by force if necessary.
Hong Kong marks 28 years since bloody Tiananmen crackdown
Hong Kong marks 28 years since bloody Tiananmen crackdown
At least three dead as migrant boat capsizes off Greek island
- An accident occurred when the vessel approached the migrants’ wooden boat
- The search for survivors was continuing with four patrol boats
ATHENS: The bodies of three migrants were picked up in waters off the Greek island of Crete during a rescue effort involving a commercial ship, authorities said Friday.
Twenty migrants were rescued by the commercial vessel which was directed to the area on the orders of the Greek Search and Rescue Center.
According to Greek public broadcaster ERT, an accident occurred when the vessel approached the migrants’ wooden boat. As the passengers tried to climb up ladders into the vessel a sudden movement caused the small boat to capsize.
The search for survivors was continuing with four patrol boats, an aircraft, and two ships from the European border agency Frontex, a spokesperson for the Greek coast guard told AFP.
According to ERT, survivors said about 50 people were aboard the wooden boat.
A second boat carrying around forty migrants was spotted in the area, triggering another rescue operation.
For over a year, migrants have been attempting the perilous crossing from Libya to Crete, the gateway to the European Union.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 16,770 people seeking asylum in the EU arrived in Crete in 2025.
Faced with the surge in arrivals, the conservative Greek government suspended the processing of asylum applications for three months last summer, particularly for those arriving from Libya.
UNHCR says 107 people died or went missing in Greek waters in 2025.
