Adrian Brown covered the crackdown on protesters around Tiananmen Square 30 years ago. Brown, now the Beijing correspondent for Al Jazeera English, describes what he saw on June 4, 1989, and talks about how those events are viewed in China today.
Tanks firing, massive crowds on the streets
My name is Adrian Brown, I’m the Beijing correspondent for Al Jazeera and I was here in this city more than 30 years ago covering the start of the pro-democracy movement and the aftermath of the brutal suppression of that movement. I’ve come today to Ritan Park. It’s in the centre of Beijing, it’s one of my favourite places in this city. It’s a park that predates communist times and it’s a good place to, I think, reflect on those tumultuous events of 30 years ago.
[1989 events, crowd protesting]
Students marching
Hu Yaobang funeral
Students protesting: I arrived in Beijing on May the 4th, the day that a million students marched across the city, their march was led by a charismatic 21-year-old student called Wu’er Kaixi. Now, the students had begun appearing on the streets of the Chinese capital several weeks earlier following the death of a man called Hu Yaobang. He had been a liberal in the Chinese government and had been purged several years earlier. His death was the trigger for an outpouring of grief and the students really believed in what Hu Yaobang wanted.
Hu Yaobang file footage
He wanted to see a loosening up of things here in China. He wanted freedom of speech, he wanted freedom of assembly, he wanted in many ways what the students were now demanding, which was for the Chinese government to deliver on promises enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Wang Dan
Former student leader of the Tiananmen demonstrations
"We were patriotic, we were not trying to overthrow the authorities, and we hoped we could have the right dialogue with the authorities, talking about a lot of things. I don't think this was a radical request, so I presumed at that time that the government would eventually agree with us."
Protests on the square
They wanted democracy, but also, they wanted tougher measures against corruption. Gradually, the movement grew and by the first week of May, Tiananmen Square became occupied by hundreds of thousands of students. Tiananmen Square, of course, is a ceremonial heart of Beijing.
Former student leader of the Tiananmen demonstrations
“I think politically, or legally or rationally speaking, we are blameless. That part I’m pretty confident with. But morally I don’t know. That’s another thing. What if there was one person who was shot dead in that place because he heard a speech given by me.”
Soldiers on the streets, tanks firing, crowds
By the third week of May, the government had started to lose patience and it declared martial law. But this didn’t deter the students and the occupation continued. But by then, the protest movement had started to sort of peter out. Roundabout early June, June the 3rd, the evening, afternoon June the 3rd, a decision had clearly been made to use force to finally end
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Tiananmen Square: 30 years later
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