Hong Kong churches drop Tiananmen tributes after 33 years amid arrest fears

Concerns of breaching security law prompt cancellation of services that were among last ways to publicly mark China's 1989 crackdown

For the first time in 33 years, church services to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown will not be held in Hong Kong, erasing one of the last reminders of China's bloody suppression of the 1989 protests.

Since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 to snuff out pro-democracy demonstrations, once-packed candlelit vigils have been banned, a Tiananmen museum has been forced to close and statues have been pulled down.