June 04, 2006
Freedom will blossom?
Chinese security forces reacted in their typical fashion on today's anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Chinese police tore up a protester's poster and detained at least two people on Beijing's Tiananmen Square today as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space.An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van.
A farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van.
After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained.
Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.
In Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields. They observed a brief silence and organizers laid wreaths at a makeshift shrine dedicated to "martyrs of democracy."
The crowd also sang the pro-democracy song, "Freedom Flower," with the lyrics: "No matter how heavy the rain beats, freedom will blossom."
Organizers claimed 44,000 attended the commemoration, but police put the figure at 19,000. The crowd size was likely hurt by rainy weather in recent days and the lack of major political disputes.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, died during those days.
• Wikipedia - Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
• PBS Frontline - The Tank Man
Deep thinker Thomas Barnett says the Chinese aren't a long-term threat, but I still worry.