HONG KONG (CNS): Hong Kong’s bishop is urging Catholics to fight for the vindication of victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun also urged Catholics to be prepared to defend the “one country, two systems” principle in Hong Kong.
The bishop addressed a prayer service on June 4 prior to an annual candlelight vigil held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to mark the anniversary of the massacre.
Bishop Zen said Hong Kong had experienced its own “June 4” this year when China announced in April that it had rejected an open election for Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2007 and legislature in 2008.
About 600 people took part in the prayer service to pray for democracy in Hong Kong and China. The vigil that followed marked the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings in Beijing.
About 80,000 people, the largest turnout since 1990, participated in the vigil, held every year at Victoria Park to protest the killing of student demonstrators during the 1989 crackdown.
