Tiananmen Square Massacre: When thousands of innocent protesters were brutally killed by the government

Tiananmen square protests of 1989 | Most of us have heard & read about Jallianwala Bagh Massacre that happened 101 years ago on 13^th April 1919. However, fewer Indians know about the Tiananmen Square incident that happened in our neighboring country China in 1989, when the Chinese government gave orders to its army for sporadic shooting at its citizens, who were protesting for Democracy against Communist Chinese government limiting the freedom & one-Party form of government. After 28 years of that incident, the confidential report was made available for the public by British authorities & is now available in British National Archives.

According to the confidential report present in the British archives, more than 10,000 civilians were killed in the military action. To make it clear to my readers, I will elaborate on it from the start. In the late 1980s, there was a growing sentiment of democracy among the young generations of Chinese. They have seen the Western world democracy & liberalism, most of the Chinese students who studied in the west & exposed to western ideas were able to distinguish better between the conservative controlled approach by government & democracy. Also, China had seen a decade of remarkable economic growth, which in turn had put money in their hands & living standards raised. Students were more inclined towards open markets & Capitalism.

Raised living standards & prosperity resulted in inflation & corruption at the government level. Students led demonstrations in Beijing for supporting democracy & more freedom. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanted to suppress this movement led by students, however, there was a member in CCP, who was general secretary & in favor of Democratic reforms, his name was Hu Yaobang. He was made to resign in 1987 following his favor towards the reforms. Hu Yaobang died on 15^th April 1987 & his death became the catalyst of events that happened after that, on this funeral (22^nd April) thousands of students gathered near Tiananmen square & protested for democratic & liberalization reforms. Soon, other citizens also joined for other economic reforms & eventually the numbers increased. Chinese Communist Party saw this as a political threat & wanted to curb it immediately.

On 15^th May, Soviet Union Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev paid a visit to China. A welcome ceremony for Gorbachev originally scheduled for Tiananmen Square was instead held at the airport due to disruption by Protestors. Many Western Media Journalists were present in Beijing covering the visit of Soviet Union PM. This protest caught the attention of Western Media & got high media coverage. Almost more than 200000 troops were deployed in Beijing on 20^th May & Martial law was declared by the Chinese government. By the end of May approx. 1 million people gathered around Tiananmen square, protestors centered around a Statue called “Goddess of Democracy”. The Chinese government was not able to figure out how to handle the protest. Some moderators in the party even gave the idea to negotiate with the protestors & find common ground. But hardliners in the party rejected that proposal.

Finally, on 4^th June, Chinese troops started continuous firing into the crowd, that created a stampede, many protestors flew away to save their lives, few thousands stood there to attack the troops with stones & got killed in the firing. Many got wounded badly. The army even carried in military tanks to bombard innocent civilians.

This military action by the Chinese Communist Party on its citizens got condemned by the world leaders. United States Congress even imposed trade sanctions on China.

The Chinese government was accused of hiding & manipulating the number of civilians who died in that military action. That time in July 1987, the Chinese government declared that approx. 200 civilians got killed & a dozen soldiers got wounded. According to Chinese government records, 200 Civilians died & 7000 civilians got wounded in the Military action.

Amid all chaos & brutality of the Chinese Government to curb the protest, a photo got leaked by a journalist & was able to reach western media despite strict restrictions by the government on media. Someone has rightly said that A picture speaks a thousand words, this picture in which a civilian who had Bread & vegetables in his hand, standing in front of Military tanks, to block their way. He knew exactly that these tanks can kill him, he knew that they were coming after killing thousands of his countrymen & will take no second to kill him also, but still, he stood fearless. This picture became a symbol of resistance against injustice.

Even after three decades of that incident, the Chinese government has banned all the scripts, books related to the Tiananmen Square protest. No material can be shared on their government-controlled internet related to the Tiananmen Square massacre.