Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The Chinese government is still taking a tough stance following decades of the pro-democracy movement, with an accelerating erosion of people's rights and liberties.
The 1989 Tiananmen Square protest was a symbol of pro-democracy movement in China. It involved student-led demonstrations calling for democracy, free speech, and a free press in China. However, the authorities brutally suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations. Even today, the 1989 events at Tiananmen Square are highly censored on China’s tightly controlled internet.
With democratization extinguished in the mainland, the focus has shifted increasingly to semi-autonomous Hong Kong. Last year, the authorities for the first time banned the annual events that remembers victims of the 1989 crackdown.
The Chinese government wants us to forget about what happened 32 years ago, but we should not allow it to put an end to democracy on Chinese soil. Today, we commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre, we encourage everyone concerning China's democratization to light candles in their home, and we urge free world leaders to keep the pressure on the Chinese government, push China towards democracy, and give freedom to the Chinese people.
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