21st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests 21st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests The 21st anniversary Tiananmen square incident march began as a small march to commemorate the 4 June Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Hong Kong. Hong Kong and Macau are the only places on Chinese soil where the 1989 crushing of China's pro-democracy movement can be commemorated, and the annual event to commemorate has been taking place in Hong Kong since 1990. In 2010, the candlelight vigil attracted more than 150,000 participants – the controversies surrounding Hong Kong authorities' treatment of the democracy goddess statues, including a controversial ban by the Chinese
Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident practitioners, but were not scrutinised for the methods they used. This resulted in the widespread use of torture, sometimes resulting in death. Tiananmen Square was one of the main venues where Falun Gong practitioners gathered to protest the persecution, usually by raising banners in defence of the group, or stage peaceful meditation sit-ins. Ian Johnson of the "Wall Street Journal" estimated that by 25 April 2000, more than 30,000 practitioners had been arrested for attempting to demonstrate in Beijing, most of them in or on the way to Tiananmen Square. Seven hundred Falun Gong followers were arrested during a demonstration