Hong Kong, June 10 -- The Chinese Communist Party, CCP for short, suffers from a serious degree of paranoia when it comes to anything that might threaten its grasp over modern China. That threat could take the form of books, a free press, protest movements, or even candles and flowers.

This was amply demonstrated in Hong Kong when the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre passed on 4 June 2025. The Hong Kong Police stated that it arrested two people and detained ten others, the youngest of which was a uniformed high school girl aged 15 years.

Their crimes? Some were "behaving suspiciously", whilst others held an electric candle, stood silently in the rain or held flowers in the vicinity of Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island. ...