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HK pro-democracy activists claim fresh momentum

Pro-democracy figures claimed fresh momentum yesterday after tens of thousands of people rallied on the 15th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, but Beijing's local allies denounced the protest as a ploy to seek independence.

"People are geared up to speak out," opposition lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said Saturday.

Hong Kong people hold a candlelight vigil every year to commemorate China's military crackdown on unarmed students rallying for democracy in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and this year's event was highly charged after China recently ruled out full democracy in the near term for Hong Kong.

Organizers claimed they attracted a 82,000 people, up from around 50,000 last year. Police put the number at 48,000.

Hong Kongers still mourn the hundreds, if not thousands, of people killed when China used troops and tanks to crush the mainland's democracy movement. China's decision in April that Hong Kong citizens cannot directly elect their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008 added to the high emotions this year.

"Their fight for democracy back then is the same fight as ours," Lee said.

Beijing claims it had to use troops to break up a counterrevolutionary riot, and its local allies voiced sharp criticism Saturday of the candlelight vigil.

The < "Hong Kong has returned to the motherland with significant autonomy, but democracy sympathizers are still shouting `return power to the people.' Who do they want to return power to?" < Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp has never advocated independence, though opposition lawmakers and activists say they would like to see China become democratic.

In related news, Chinese history textbooks in Hong Kong are to cover the 1989 Tiananmen Square showdown for the first time but will not describe the killing of students, a news report said yesterday.

The new textbooks for secondary school students carry descriptions about the incident for the first time, but one of them says simply that "on June 4, the government pacified the student movement."

The books makes no mention of the use of force, including tanks and machine guns, to clear the square in the showdown that led to the death of hundreds of students.

The textbooks will go on sale to Hong Kong students before the start of the next academic year.
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