Beijing keeps lid on past

Police and paramilitary officers patrolled central Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Wednesday, also visibly stepping up their presence in other areas of the city on the quarter-century anniversary.

Vehicles approaching the square itself were stopped, with occupants asked to provide identification papers. After the usual dawn flag-raising ceremony, reporters were told to leave the area, according to the AP news agency.

Dozens of activists and critics have already been detained by police, held under house arrest or sent out of the city, with restrictions in place on the Internet adding to the security crackdown.

China has made attempts to suppress memories of the Tiananmen crackdown and massacre on June 3 to 4, 1989, in which soldiers quashed a blossoming student-led pro-democracy movement, killing hundreds. More than 1,000 died according to some estimates.

Soldiers, tanks and armored personnel carriers fought their way into the heart of Beijing over the two days, eventually opening fire in the square.

In Hong Kong - the only place in China where the anniversary can be remembered openly - as many as 200,000 people were expected to take part in a candle-lit vigil.

A powerful reminder

Each year, tens of thousands gather in Victoria Park for a ceremony to mark the events. This year's vigil - marking the quarter century anniversary - was expected to draw even larger numbers, with an increasing number from the mainland.

The vigil is seen as particularly significant by activists as a means of making young people aware of the events that took place. About a third of the Chinese population alive today was born after the crackdown.

"Tens of hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong can challenge the authority, to condemn the massacre. I think it is very significant that we can speak out for the voices inside China," City University of Hong Kong political science professor Lee Cheuk-yan - who was himself present at Tiananmen - told the AFP news agency.

Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 after being administered by Britain, has retained a far greater degree of civil liberty than the mainland, possessing a form of semi-autonomous status.

'Need for transparency'

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday urged Beijing to be more open about the crackdown, including the exact number of people who died.

"Rather than stifle attempts to commemorate the 1989 events, the authorities should encourage and facilitate dialogue and discussion as a means of overcoming the legacy of the past," said Pillay. She also called for the release of dozens of activists arrested in the run-up to the anniversary.

The world's first museum remembering the crackdown and its victims opened in Hong Kong in April. Beijing on Tuesday defended its actions at the time of the crackdown, claiming it had chosen the best path for the Chinese people.

rc/lw (AFP, AP, Reuters)