Tiananmen candlelight vigil to take place at Vancouver’s David Lam Park
Posted June 4, 2023 12:49 pm.
Last Updated June 4, 2023 12:51 pm.
A candlelight vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre is scheduled to take place at Vancouver’s David Lam Park Sunday evening.
Sunday marks the 34 anniversary of the June 4, 1989, massacre in which tanks rolled into the heart of Beijing and hundreds, and possibly thousands, of people were killed.
“Canadians and Hongkongers will recreate the ineffaceable image of the sea of lights in Hong Kong Victoria Park, through each and every spark of light it shines their unyielding demand to redress the June 4 Massacre, and their utter defiance to the repressive regime of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party),” the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement (VSSDM) says on its website.
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Mabel Tung, chairwoman of the society, said organizers started putting together the event a month early because activists feel the added responsibility of carrying on the work of the Hong Kong vigil.
“This year we started in March to plan ahead and work with other organizations across Canada in Toronto and also Calgary … so those who went to Victoria Park every year have a sense that we still remember the massacre and the people of Hong Kong,” Tung said.
The location of David Lam Park was chosen in part to echo the spirit of the Hong Kong protests.
Lam was a Hong Kong-born Canadian banker, businessman, and politician who became a prominent real estate investor in Vancouver. Lam also served as B.C.’s Lieutenant Governor from 1988 to 1995.
The memorial event is set to start at 4 p.m. with an exhibition, followed by live music, and then a candlelight vigil is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Organizers are asking people to bring their own candles and as only a small amount of candles will be provided.
