Tiananmen crackdown: Unknown in China, unforgotten outside

Tiananmen crackdown: Unknown in China, unforgotten outside

Tens of thousands gathered in a Hong Kong park yesterday to remember the dead on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown - the only major commemoration in China - as authorities clamped tight security on Beijing.

The White House called for China's Communist authorities to account for those killed, detained or missing in connection with the June 1989 assault, still a taboo topic for a nation that refuses to allow political reform in line with its dramatic economic transformation.

"Vindicate 6/4!" crowds shouted, waving banners as the candle-lit vigil began, AFP reported.

Lights were turned out as elderly and young alike raised their candles in the dark. The names of those who died in Beijing on June 4, 1989 were read out.

Hundreds of unarmed civilians - by some estimates, more than 1,000 - were killed during the June 3-4 crackdown, when soldiers on foot and in tanks crushed months of peaceful protests by students demanding political liberties.

"This event must be instilled in everyone's heart, we can't let time dilute this event," said student Anna Lau, 19.

People bowed to pay their respects as film footage of the event was shown.

Similar smaller events were scheduled in Macau and Taipei.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou described the events of 25 years ago as an "enormous historical wound".

Mr Ma called on Beijing to "speedily redress the wrongs to ensure that such a tragedy will never happen again".

Likewise, the US will continue to "urge the Chinese government to guarantee the universal rights and fundamental freedoms that are the birthright of all Chinese citizens", a White House statement said.

COMING FROM CHINA

Among the crowds packing Hong Kong's Victoria Park, named for the former British colonial monarch, were many from the Chinese mainland.

"I came here to take part in this vigil, because in China we don't have any rights or freedoms... so to express my views I have to come to Hong Kong," 35-year-old Huang Waicheng, an engineer from Shenzhen, told AFP.

"In China, there are too few people that know about (the crackdown)."

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Many foreign news outlets have received warnings from police and the foreign ministry against newsgathering related to the anniversary or risk "serious consequences", including possible revocation of their visas.

Under pressure from authorities, Chinese online social networks quickly deleted any perceived references to the crackdown, banning terms including "Tiananmen", "student movement", "6/4" and "25th anniversary".

A handful of mentions slipped past the censors, including one posting that showed an image of a candle and the date June 4, 1989. When asked, university students declined to be interviewed or suggested they did not know much about it.

"I know about it, but I don't really understand what it is," said a student near Peking University. "At this time, we were not even born!" The state-run Global Times yesterday made references to the anniversary in its English-language edition, but the Chinese-language version only alluded to it.

"Chinese society has never forgotten the incident 25 years ago, but not talking about it indicates the attitude of society," the English-language editorial said.

TIANANMEN 1989

Build up to the bloody crackdown on protesters in the Chinese capital 25 years ago

APRIL 15
Death of dismissed reformer and ex-Communist Party boss Hu Yaobang

APRIL 17
First student protest on Tiananmen Square, to lay wreaths honouring Hu, adorned with pro-democracy slogans

APRIL 22
Hu Yaobang's funeral disrupted by student demonstration in the Square

APRIL 25
People's Daily calls protests "plot" against regime

APRIL 27
Protests erupt across the country

MAY 4
Over a million demonstrate, commemorating the historic Chinese student demonstration of May 4, 1919

MAY 13

Students launch occupation of Tiananmen Square and a hunger strike

MAY 15
Protests disrupt visit by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev

MAY 17
About 1.2 million students, workers, civil servants and intellectuals protest in Beijing; major demonstrations across the country

MAY 18
Premier Li Peng meets student leaders in nationally televised meeting

MAY 19
Zhao Ziyang, Communist Party boss, pleads with hunger strikers to leave the square

MAY 20
Martial law declared

MAY 26
Zhao Ziyang purged from Party leadership, put under house arrest on 28th

MAY 29
Students erect polystyrene 'Goddess of Liberty' facing the portrait of former leader Mao Zedong

JUNE 3
Students, citizens block military vehicles at Beijing's major

JUNE 3-4
Army evacuates Tiananmen Square. Soldiers flanked by tanks open fire in streets of Beijing. Hundreds, possibly more than 1,000, killed

JUNE 5
An unknown Chinese citizen blocks a column of tanks intersections


This article was first published on June 5, 2014.
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