Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marked the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on Tuesday by expressing “real concerns” about China’s human rights record, prompting a swift protest from Beijing.

Trudeau said Canada continued to call on China to “respect human rights, to respect the right to protest, to respect freedom of expression” and stop its mass detention of Uighurs and other Muslims.

“We have real concerns about China’s behavior in regards to human rights and will continue to call for better respect of human rights on this anniversary and every day going forward,” he told reporters in Vancouver.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries have deteriorated badly since December when police in Vancouver detained Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a US arrest warrant.

Security in Tiananmen Square on Tuesday was tighter than usual. The anniversary of the crackdown, when Beijing sent troops and tanks to quell pro-democracy activists, is not spoken of openly in China.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that Canada wanted Chinese authorities “to break the silence on these events by openly accounting for the Chinese citizens who were killed, detained or went missing.” The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa said the remarks by Trudeau and his government were “gross accusations” that represented flagrant interference in China’s internal affairs.

Shortly after Trudeau spoke, Reuters reported that China planned to boost inspections of imported Canadian meats and meat products, a move industry executives said could have “a disastrous effect.”