Hong Kong students start vote on Tiananmen killings

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong student union is holding a student vote on whether China should apologise for its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananamen Square 20 years ago in which hundreds were killed.

While China has tried to whitewash any commemoration or mention of June 4, formerly British-ruled Hong Kong has remained the only city on Chinese soil where annual June 4 vigils, remembrances and protests are tolerated.

Faced with growing student indifference, the Hong Kong University Student Union kicked off the three-day vote on whether China should "rectify" its verdict that the June 4 protests were counter-revolutionary and that killings were justified.

"After 20 years of denial and injustice, the world has had enough," the union said in explaining the need for a referendum.

"As the heirs to those who have fought and died for the freedoms which we now enjoy, we all share a duty to step forward on their behalf lest all their sacrifices be in vain."

The vote comes amid recent signs of on-campus tensions in Hong Kong between democratic-minded students and conservative elements wanting to tone down the criticism of Beijing, particularly among students from mainland China.

The demonstrations that drew more than a million people on to Beijing's streets are now a fading memory and the killings are still taboo in mainland Chinese media.

A so-called "democracy wall" on the University of Hong Kong's campus used to raise awareness of June 4 through photographs, essays and posters was recently vandalised.