Police officers guard Tiananmen Gate on Tuesday in Beijing. As Beijing’s tough political stance has effectively quashed any large-scale commemorations within its borders, commemorative events abroad have become increasingly important to preserve the memories. memories of the Tiananmen crackdown.
Ng Han Guan/AP
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Ng Han Guan/AP
BEIJING — Checkpoints and rows of police cars lined a major road leading to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Tuesday as China stepped up security on the 35th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on protests. Pro-democracy demonstration.
China has long suppressed all memory of the killings, as the Chinese government ordered the military to end months-long protests and support Communist rule. An estimated 180,000 soldiers and armed police poured in with tanks and armored vehicles, firing into the crowd as they marched toward Tiananmen Square.
The number of deaths remains unknown to this day. Hundreds, if not thousands, are believed to have been killed in an operation that began the night before and ended on the morning of June 4, 1989.
The crackdown became a turning point in modern Chinese history, ending a crisis that favored Communist Party hardliners who favored control over political reform. treat.
The economy boomed in the following decades, turning the once impoverished nation into the world’s second-largest economy, but social controls have been tightened since party leader Xi Jinping Binh came to power in 2012.
Across China, the event remains a sensitive and taboo subject, heavily censored and any mention or reference on social media removed.
It was just another day in the Chinese capital, with hundreds of tourists lining the path leading to the entrance gates to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace across the north side of the square. Those who lost loved ones during the crackdown are often prevented from gathering or grieving in public.
When asked by a foreign journalist to comment on the 35th anniversary during the Foreign Ministry’s daily briefing on Monday, spokesman Mao Ning declined to comment on the event.
“The Chinese government has long since come to a clear conclusion about the political turmoil that occurred in the late 1980s,” she said.
Tiananmen Mothers, a group founded by the families of the victims, called online for the Chinese government to release the names and phone numbers of the dead, and to compensate victims and relatives. them and hold those responsible accountable.
“The June 4 tragedy is a historic tragedy that the Chinese government must face and explain to its people, and some in the Government at the time must be held legally responsible for their actions. indiscriminately killing innocent people,” the group wrote in a signed letter. by 114 family members and published on its website, which is blocked in China.
Tiananmen memorials have also been removed in Hong Kong – for many years the only place in China where these memorials could take place. On Tuesday, a festival organized by pro-Beijing groups was held in a park that for decades was the site of a giant candlelight vigil marking the anniversary.
The police used a new one national security law arrested eight people over the past week for social media posts commemorating the crackdown, including Chow Hang-tung, a former vigil organizer. Several pro-democracy activists told The Associated Press that police asked about their plans on Tuesday.
Police responded to Causeway Bay, a busy shopping area near the park where the vigil was held. Police quickly arrested a performer the previous evening in the same neighborhood.
Some Hong Kong residents recalled the event privately, running 6.4 km (4 miles) on Monday – a reference to June 4 – and sharing Tiananmen-related content online society. The British Consulate posted a photo on social media platform X showing the smartphone’s flashlight turned on with the letter “VIIV”, the Roman numeral for 6/4, printed on it.
An independent bookstore, which displays the number “35/5” in the window – a circular reference to the crackdown’s date of May 35 – wrote on Instagram that police officers were stationed outside the store for an hour on Sunday, during which time they recorded the scene detailing the customer’s identity.
Hong Kong leader John Lee did not respond directly when asked on Tuesday whether people could still publicly mourn the crackdown. He urged people not to let down their guard against any attempt to cause trouble.
“The threat to national security is real,” Lee said during the weekly briefing. “Such activities can happen suddenly and different people can use different reasons to hide their intentions.”
Commemorative events have grown abroad in response to the silencing of voices in Hong Kong. Prayer services were planned in Washington. DC, London, Brisbane and Taipei join other cities this year, as well as a growing number of talks, rallies, exhibitions and performances.
