The Tiananmen Square Cover-Up
Human Rights Watch investigates the Chinese government's ongoing efforts to cover up all evidence -- and memories -- of the Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989.
The Tiananmen massacre was precipitated by mass gatherings of workers, students, and others in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and other cities in April 1989 to demonstrate peacefully for a pluralistic political system. The government responded to the intensifying protests in late May 1989 by declaring martial law and authorizing the military to use deadly force.
In response, units of the Chinese military in Beijing and other cities on and around June 3 and 4 shot and killed an untold number of unarmed civilians, many of whom were not connected to the protests. Some people attacked army convoys and burned vehicles as the military moved through Beijing. The 1989 crackdown extended to major urban centers across China and included the arrests of thousands of people on charges of fomenting "counter-revolution" and on criminal charges, including disrupting social order and arson.
The Chinese government has refused to account for those killings or to bring the perpetrators to justice. The Chinese Communist Party initially justified the bloody crackdown as a valid response to a "counter-revolutionary incident," later revising its assessment to say it was a "political disturbance." The Chinese government has flatly refused to issue a list of those killed, "disappeared," or imprisoned, and has never published verifiable casualty figures. The government has also consistently stifled any public discussion of the June 1989 massacre and its aftermath.
