The organizers said 150,000 people joined the vigil, tying the record set by the first anniversary vigil in 1990 and dwarfing every subsequent vigil. The police estimated the crowd at 62,800, their largest estimate for any vigil except the one in 1990, which they put at 80,000.

Hong Kong, returned by Britain to Chinese rule in 1997, is still semiautonomous and is the only place in China where large public gatherings are allowed to mark the anniversaries of the 1989 protests and killings.

The peaceful assembly spilled out into nearby streets, shutting down traffic. Inside Victoria Park, thousands listened to songs and speakers who recounted the events on the night of the crackdown. A half-hour into the vigil, the lights in the park were extinguished and the attendees lighted a forest of white candles in inverted conical paper shields.

Around the park on Thursday, numerous banners in Chinese demanded the vindication of the students and other Beijing residents who perished during the Chinese government crackdown. There were people of all ages, from gray-haired retirees to young children whose parents accompanied them to explain why they felt so deeply about an event that took place before the children were born.

Gary Leung, a 42-year-old interior designer, went with his two daughters, ages 8 and 4.

“I want to see Tiananmen vindicated,” he said. “I feel very old  I hope the apology will come before I die, and if not, my children will continue the struggle.”