HONG KONG — Every June 4 for the past 26 years, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have gathered for a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park to commemorate those who were killed in the Chinese military’s suppression of the 1989 democracy protests in Beijing. Activists from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong student leaders and politicians have shared the stage to declare their solidarity in a continuing struggle for political change in China.

Not this year. The largest student union in Hong Kong has said that it will no longer participate in the commemoration as local young people increasingly focus on first achieving greater democracy and autonomy for their city, with some even calling for independence from China. Ahead of the anniversary of the crackdown on Saturday, politicians and students here were asked about the growing fissures within the democracy movement in the semiautonomous Chinese territory and how it should move forward. Here are some of their answers.