DonLever Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Today is the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre in Bejing. Technically it is June 3 here but it is already June 4 in Asian. From the Financial Post: High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1095a1c-e973-11e3-bbc1-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz33bgYwQsX China clampdown ahead of Tiananmen massacre anniversary By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing China has detained dozens of people and launched an unprecedented security operation in central Beijing to stop anyone commemorating the 25th anniversary of an event that has been virtually wiped from the collective memory of the nation. A quarter of a century after the People’s Liberation Army turned its tanks and guns on the people and marched into Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3 and early hours of June 4, 1989, any mention of the massacre of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people is banned from public life. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1095a1c-e973-11e3-bbc1-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz33bhflmXv More than 50 people, including activists, lawyers, journalists and relatives of students killed in the massacre, have been detained, arrested or simply “disappeared” in recent weeks because of their efforts to commemorate the anniversary, according to human rights groups. Most of these people have been charged with amorphous crimes that are often used to silence critics of the regime – such as “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” – and could face several years in prison if convicted. Some were detained after holding small private gatherings in their own homes, the first time this has happened according to activists. The crackdown highlights how potent the traumatic events of 1989 remain in Chinese politics, and how fearful the authorities are of those they fear might use those events to call for greater liberty and political participation. Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was a key figure in the Tiananmen Square student democracy protests, has been serving an 11-year prison sentence since 2009 for advocating peaceful political reform. Several foreign governments and international bodies have expressed concern over the crackdown. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1095a1c-e973-11e3-bbc1-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz33bhqtCjc We are deeply concerned by the recent arrests and detentions of a large number of peaceful human rights defenders, lawyers and intellectuals,” the EU said last week. “We reiterate the EU’s call on the Chinese authorities to abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . . . and to release all those imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their views. We also urge the Chinese authorities to ensure that, where needed, detainees have rapid access to independent and adequate medical care, in order to avoid a repetition of recent deaths in custody.” There have been some calls on social media in recent weeks for ordinary Chinese citizens to “return to the square” on June 4 to commemorate the massacre. But even such a harmless act as strolling through the square could prompt a harsh response from the authorities, who have launched a show of force in the centre of the capital, with armed police and paramilitary patrols and thousands of plain-clothed officers. Beijing is also on high alert after a series of terrorist attacks around the country, which the government blames on Muslim extremist Uighur separatists from the far west of China. “The response by the Chinese authorities to the 25th anniversary has been harsher than in previous years, as they persist in trying to wipe the events of 4 June from memory,” said Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International. While any mention of the events of 1989 are banned in mainland China, crowds gather each year on the anniversary in the former British colony of Hong Kong, which enjoys greater freedoms than the rest of China. In recent weeks some foreign journalists, most of them from global television networks, have been harassed and threatened by Chinese police and warned not to report on the anniversary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuckin_futz Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 IMO one of the most important images of the last 100 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inane Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This event never happened. It was just the Chinese military defending themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugor Hill Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8555142/Wikileaks-no-bloodshed-inside-Tiananmen-Square-cables-claim.html The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and released exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, partly confirm the Chinese government's account of the early hours of June 4, 1989, which has always insisted that soldiers did not massacre demonstrators inside Tiananmen Square. Instead, the cables show that Chinese soldiers opened fire on protesters outside the centre of Beijing, as they fought their way towards the square from the west of the city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 We were in China. Beijing. a few years ago. We visited a friend who is teaching English there. We talked to some of his students about the massacre and of them a few didnt know anything about it at all, some thought it was an urban legend and a few had bits and pieces of the story. None of them really know what had happened in any kind of detail. They had never seen the image of Tank man. So good job to the authorities over there for keeping your people from knowing about what you have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Prime example of effective history editing. Makes you wonder how much NA history here has been erased though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kakanucks Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 yet they keep blabbing about nanjing massacres everywhere...... hypocrites at its best.... **NOT condoning the actions of the japanese soldiers in nanjing massacre** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyledude Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 yet they keep blabbing about nanjing massacres everywhere...... hypocrites at its best.... **NOT condoning the actions of the japanese soldiers in nanjing massacre**Hey - that never happened either, according to the Japanese... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kakanucks Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Hey - that never happened either, according to the Japanese... yea thats equally stupid too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugor Hill Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 yet they keep blabbing about nanjing massacres everywhere...... hypocrites at its best.... **NOT condoning the actions of the japanese soldiers in nanjing massacre** Two very different events now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Two very different events now.... They're the same thing. Embarrassing events that "could" demoralize the population would not be good, hence, historical revision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugor Hill Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 They're the same thing. Embarrassing events that "could" demoralize the population would not be good, hence, historical revision. In that respect, yes. One is a potential rebellion suppression. The other is a medieval style sack of a city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 In that respect, yes. One is a potential rebellion suppression. The other is a medieval style sack of a city. Both have happened historically prior to them happening and both certainly won't be the last. No particular need to scorn either of the events any more than what is currently happening now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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