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The Latest: Thousands in Hong Kong set for Tiananmen vigil

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A boy walks past the statue replica of the Goddess of Democracy at the June 4th Museum in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 4, 2016. Security was tightened around Tiananmen Square on the 27th anniversary Saturday of China's bloody military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests, pointing to the enduring sensitivity over the events with the Chinese leadership. Memorials were planned in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong and in self-governing Taiwan, where some former student leaders have found refuge. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) (The Associated Press)

A boy watches a film showing victims of the June 4 crackdown at the June 4th Museum in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 4, 2016. Security was tightened around Tiananmen Square on the 27th anniversary Saturday of China's bloody military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests, pointing to the enduring sensitivity over the events with the Chinese leadership. Memorials were planned in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong and in self-governing Taiwan, where some former student leaders have found refuge. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) (The Associated Press)

A photograph of Tank Man, the lone protester who stood to block the way of a line of several tanks during the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing, is displayed at the June 4th Museum in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 4, 2016. Security was tightened around Tiananmen Square on the 27th anniversary Saturday of China's bloody military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests, pointing to the enduring sensitivity over the events with the Chinese leadership. Memorials were planned in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong and in self-governing Taiwan, where some former student leaders have found refuge. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) (The Associated Press)

The Latest on the 27th anniversary of the Chinese military's bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (all times local):

7:45 p.m.

People are starting to filter into Victoria Park in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay district as the city prepares to hold an annual candlelight vigil on the 27th anniversary of the Chinese military's bloody crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Organizers are expecting 100,000 people to attend, though the threat of rain may keep numbers down.

The annual event is the only large-scale public commemoration of Beijing's brutal crackdown held on Chinese soil.

The vigil is organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. It demands that Beijing overturn its verdict that the Tiananmen protests were a counterrevolutionary riot. It also calls for one-party dictatorship in China to be replaced by democracy.