Marking the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Taiwan's president expressed hopes for China's youth to one day be able to express themselves. Meanwhile, police arrested several people in Hong Kong.Taiwan's president has expressed her hopes that the youth of China would one day be able to sing freely and express themselves on the mainland, in a statement marking the 34th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown.

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Tsai Ing-wen said in a Sunday Facebook post that Taiwanese people have the space to express their opinions and creations through diversified channels. She added that such practices have nourished the culture in Taiwan.

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"We hope that someday young people in China will be freely singing songs. And that they can create enthusiastically without fear," Tsai wrote in Mandarin.

Hundreds and possibly over 1,000 people were killed when China's People's Liberation Army sent in tanks and troops to quash weekslong peaceful protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Protesters were calling for political change.

Organizers have set up memorials in Taiwan's capital of Taipei to mark the anniversary, later holding a candlelight vigil to remember the victims.

Hong Kong protesters arrested ahead of planned vigil

In Hong Kong, demonstrators have for decades held a candlelight vigil in the city's Victoria Park to commemorate the bloody crackdown.

However, the vigil was banned following the imposition of a national security law in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory by Beijing in 2020. Many activists who took place in vigils have been convicted since.

A vigil is planned for Sunday, despite tightened security measures in the global financial hub.

Hong Kong police detained a 67-year-old activist as she carried flowers in the Causeway bay shopping district, an area that was the site of commemorations for years.

She was arrested in addition to at least seven other people in Causeway Bay, the French AFP news agency reported. At least eight others were arrested on Saturday.

Police also arrested Chan Po-ying, the leader Hong Kong's opposition League of Social Democrats party on Sunday, AFP added.

Beijing introduced the 2020 national security law after massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and has since been used to silence or jail activists.

Critics say the city's freedom of assembly that was promised to Hong Kong when it returned to China from Britain in 1997 has been eroded.

rmt/rs (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2023 06:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).