A group of Hong Kong activists on yesterday called on the head of a pro-Beijing political party to apologize for the recent remarks he made over China's 1989 Tiananmen democracy protest.
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China printed a half-page advertisement in several Chinese-language newspapers yesterday over the remarks made by Ma Lik (
"Do not twist the truth of June 4. [We] demand Ma Lik to make an open apology," read the advertisement, published a day before a vigil to be held to commemorate those who died during the democracy movement.
PHOTO: AFP
The Chinese government sent troops into Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, to quell six weeks of peaceful democracy protests, leading to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of students and civilians.
Ma, chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said last month he was not happy that the event had been described as a "massacre."
His remarks immediately drew fire from the families of victims, as well as activists and politicians here. Ma later admitted his comments were "frivolous" and "rash."
The newspaper advertisement said the Alliance strongly protested Ma's "cold-blooded" and "shameless" remarks.
"We strongly demand that Ma Lik admits his mistakes and openly apologizes to the June 4 victims, the disabled people and the families," it said.
Yesterday, more than 100 members from the Alliance and the public ran a marathon across Hong Kong to mark the 18th anniversary of the demonstration and also demand that Chinese authorities make an apology over the event.
They also laid flowers at China's representative office in the special administrative region to commemorate those who died during the protest.
The killing was widely documented in Hong Kong newspapers and TV, with pictures and footage of troops opening fire on university students and the public.
Beijing has never apologized over the incident and has said previously the military action was necessary to prevent a counter-revolutionary uprising.
The bloody crackdown continues to be a taboo subject in China.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
RSS