Hong Kong was once the only place on Chinese soil where large-scale commemorations were held to mourn those killed in the June 4, 1989, crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Since 1990, football pitches in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park were used as a venue for tens of thousands of people to gather for annual candlelight vigils. Such activities were effectively banned in 2020 by authorities enforcing rules to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and in 2022 the park was sealed off by police.