Tiananmen Square Massacre June 4, 1989 | Chinese Army Tanks Ploughed Over 10,454 Student Protesters

Hanima Anand |Jun 04, 2020

On exactly this day 31 years ago, Chinese government allowed its 200,000-soldier troops to use military tanks to plough over thousands of protesters who are mostly students. The event appalled entire world till date.

Over 3 decades gone, Tiananmen Square Massacre is still commemorated in Hong Kong and many other parts of the world as a tribute to those who dared to seek freedom under the administration of Deng Xiaoping.

The horrific event in early summer 1989 remains the bloodiest in modern Chinese history and a forever shame to Chinese governors who made use of military force to murder unarmed civilians.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 1 — Over a million people had gathered at Tiananmen Square to protest for improved liberty.

What led to Tiananmen Square Protest

On 15 April, the leader of the reform-minded party Hu Yaobang died. Suspecting the cause of his death, a million Chinese youths had gathered at Tiananmen Square to protest, calling for transparency and civil liberties as well as an end for corruption in the state administration.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 2 — Chinese administrators and security forces couldn't stop the wave of nationwide demonstrations.

The demonstrations increased in size and attracted millions of people nationwide to tune in. Six weeks after the first strike, Deng Xiaoping declared martial law in the capital to end the situation.

The reason for his urgent movement was the planned visit of Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev who would bring limelight to China at that time. If the strike continued, the Chinese government would be looked down on by global politicians that they couldn’t maintain social security in the governing city.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 3 — A troop of 200,000 soldiers was spotted on the ground.

Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989

After martial law was introduced, the military approached Tiananmen Square and tried non-violent methods to disperse the crowd at first.

Demonstrators were informed that they had one hour to leave the square.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 4 — A protester confronting tanks from 27th Group Army called to disperse the crowds.

Just 5 minutes later, automatic rifles from 27^th Group Army fired into the crowd, bullets rained down from rooftops nearby and tanks rolled in.

Tiannamen Square Massacre 5 — Unable to calm the demonstrators, Chinese government resorted to armed forces.

Despite the human chain formed by students, armoured carriers decided to ran over them, leaving countless deaths beneath wheels.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 5 — Bodies reportedly piled up inside Tiananmen Square and cleared with bulldozers.

10,454 were massacred at Tiananmen Square?

Hours later, people saw bodies cleared away by bulldozers, blood hosed into gutters while injured people were brought to the hospital in bicycle rickshaws.

According to Chinese government, the number of death were 300 at max but the organization Chinese Red Cross who also supported the rescue of victims said the total reached 2,700 people.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 8 — With this density, it's hard to believe the death toll was less than a thousand.

More shockingly, Sir Alan Donald, ambassador of Britain at China at that time, affirmed that the death toll was much higher than those numbers, noting that it climbed up to 10,454.

He even stated that the 27^th Group Army sent by the Chinese government to suppress the demonstrators was made up of “60 percent illiterate and called primitives.” These people were chosen simply because they obeyed without question and didn’t bother bloody tasks.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 6 — A protester was arrested. It seems he would soon be executed to set example for others.

Entire world shook in disgust

The whole world got shocked after hearing the news. US President George HW Bush at that time denounced the violence while the former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was “shocked and appalled.”

After the Tiananmen Square Massacre, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents who supported the protest had to leave their homeland to move overseas in fear.

In the memory of Hong Kongers, the Tiananmen event is always a warning against the Chinese government. That’s why they protested on mainland’s imposition of security laws.

Tiananmen Square Massacre 9 — Every June 4, Hong Kongers lit candles to commemorate freedom seekers in early summer of 1989.

Last week, Hong Kong Alliance group said the new national security laws were "like a knife to the neck of all Hong Kong people. Even if it only cuts a few, it threatens the freedom of all 7 million. It is the implementing of rule by fear in Hong Kong."

31 years passed but China can never wash away its shame over Tiananmen Square Massacre. And it seems they continue its cruel ridiculous acts towards other neighboring countries with recent clash with the Indian army.

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