HONG KONG – Thousands of Hong Kong police are expected to patrol the city’s streets on Friday to prevent people from gathering to commemorate the 1989 crackdown by Chinese troops in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Critics say the heightened vigilance from authorities is a marked departure from Hong Kong’s cherished freedoms of speech and assembly, bringing the global financial hub closer in line with mainland China’s strict controls on society.
The former British colony, promised a high degree of autonomy from Beijing upon its return to Chinese rule in 1997, has traditionally held the world’s largest vigil for the Tiananmen victims.
Police have ban…
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