Commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre Every year since 1989 tens of thousands of people have gathered on the evening of June 4th to remember those killed in Beijing during the government crackdown on the student protesters. This year the crowd was especially large after several years of declining numbers, with the 1999 figure estimated to be 70,000.
	Our Catholic deaf group invited any deaf people to join us for the memorial service. Before the main event, we gathered in a quiet corner of Victoria Park and had a short prayer service.
	The crowd is always orderly and well-behaved with a large number of families with small children. This year there were also several teachers who brought their classes so that the students would know about and better understand what happened ten years ago.
	Five of our volunteers, who were themselves college students at the time of the Tiananmen Square killings, joined us tonight and took turns interpreting the songs and speeches. It was a difficult job because some of the program was in Mandarin. Wang Dan, one of the student leaders from 1989, was denied a visa by the HK government but spoke to the crowd by telephone.
	This was the first year we invited the deaf group to attend the commemoration on June 4th. We ended up having more hearing volunteers than deaf people.