A Chinese activist whose legs were crushed by a tank during the Tiananmen Square crackdown called Friday for justice, as Hong Kong prepared to mark the 23rd anniversary of the unrest.
"We want the truth, we want vindication, we want the perpetrators to be brought to justice," Fang Zheng, who was a student athlete in 1989 when he lost his legs, told reporters in Hong Kong.
"China has the responsibility to let people know the truth."
Fang arrived in the southern Chinese city on Thursday from the United States, where he has lived since 2009 after leaving China due to what he described as constant persecution from the government.
Other key dissident figures of the Tiananmen protests, such as Wang Dan and Wu'er Kaixi, have previously been denied entry into the semi-autonomous territory.
The former British colony, which enjoys freedoms not allowed in mainland China, is marking the anniversary of the crackdown with a candlelight vigil on Monday.
Organisers expect more than 150,000 people will attend the annual vigil -- the only open commemoration of the Tiananmen violence which is allowed to be held on Chinese soil.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are believed to have died when the government sent in tanks and soldiers to clear Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3-4, 1989, bringing a violent end to six weeks of pro-democracy protests.
Over two decades later, Beijing still considers the incident a "counter revolutionary rebellion" and has refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing or consider compensation for those killed.
Fang, 55, criticised the Chinese government for continuing to persecute dissents and cover up the event.
Blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who is now in New York after a dramatic escape from house arrest in his Chinese village in April, is expected to address the vigil via a video link.
Fang's call for justice came as a book quoting Chen Xitong, Beijing mayor during the 1989 crackdown, went on sale in Hong Kong on Friday despite what the publisher describes as pressure by Chinese authorities to delay its release.
In the book by scholar Yao Jianfu, 81-year-old Chen expresses regret for the violence and says the deaths could have been avoided.
