Two decades after his defiance made him the the second most-wanted ringleader of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Wuer Kaixi is fighting deportation from Macau and insisting he wants to return to his homeland.

Wuer marked the 20th anniversary of the crackdown in a holding cell in the Chinese territory after immigration officials denied him entry to turn himself in.

Denied permission to enter Macau at the airport on Wednesday, authorities in the special administrative region told reporters they were planning to put him on a flight back to Taiwan at the first opportunity. Wuer has stated that he will resist any attempt to force him to leave, although he is fully aware that he faces prosecution in Beijing for his activities in June 1989.

He remains on the list of 21 student dissidents that Beijing identified as the ringleaders of the Tiananmen protests two decades ago.

Now 41 and living in Taipei, he has been told that China will never grant him amnesty and that he can never go home.