Tens of thousands of people lit candles in Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Thursday night to mark the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in which a student-led pro-democracy demonstration ended in bloodshed.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements, organizer of the candlelight vigil held annually since the 1989 massacre, said 135,000 people attended, a drop from the record 180,000 turnout last year.

Police put the figure at 46,600, much lower than last year's 99,500.