Washington, 4 June 2022 (dpa/MIA) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took to Twitter to mark the Tiananmen Square Massacre anniversary. "33 years have passed since the world watched brave demonstrators and bystanders peacefully demand democracy in Tiananmen Square. Despite the removal of memorials and attempts to erase history, we honor their memory by promoting respect for human rights wherever threatened," he wrote. Meanwhile, in Taipei, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen lamented the lack of any official vigil in Hong Kong this year commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, as the city comes ever more strictly under rule from Beijing. A large public vigil will not be held again this year, after being refused permission in the last two years due to coronavirus restrictions. Activists have been warned that they risk breaking the law this year if they attend. Using brutal means to remove people's memory of the massacre will eventually fail, Tsai said. On Facebook, she wrote that this was the first time in Hong Kong that there had been no application for an assembly for the commemoration. "The collective memory for the June Fourth crackdown has been systematically removed from the society of Hong Kong," Tsai said, citing the removal of statues commemorating the massacre after a national security law was implemented in mid-2020. In Taipei, an assembly will be held on Saturday by activists and Hongkongers living in Taiwan. A copy of the Pillar of Shame, a work of protest art which was taken down in Hong Kong last year, will be revealed in the capital.