NEW YORK—On the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, several rights groups and concerned residents gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate last Friday, wearing all-white clothing to commemorate the horrific incident that left possibly thousands of unarmed protesters slaughtered in China’s capital.
Gao Guangjun, an exiled human rights lawyer living in Europe, said the June 4, 1989, incident “caused communism to collapse” across the world.
“This year we haven’t written any open letters to the Chinese regime’s leaders like we did in the past, because they do not deserve it. They have lost too many chances [to atone for what they have done],” said Ding Zilin, the mother of one student who lost his life during the massacre.
Some artists performed songs that mourned the death of the “Tank Man,” Wang Weilin, who was immortalized in a photo of the incident. Wang stood in front of a line of Chinese Type 59 tanks the morning after the Chinese military forcibly removed protesters from in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
There was a common thread among those who gathered in front of the consulate—they said they would never give up exposing the human rights violations of the Chinese regime that has ruled China since 1949.
Dr. Li Tianxiao of Columbia University said, “We have changed a lot, and we have given the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enough opportunities, but the CCP debased and defied our hopes again and again.”
Ms. Liu, who attended the protest, said that she was born in 1989 and knew very little about the massacre until just two years ago. The Chinese regime’s tight control on information kept her from learning the truth while living in China. She said that she was shocked when she found out the facts through information obtained by circumventing the regime’s tight control of the Internet.
A bus driver from Shanghai recounted his experience of witnessing the massacre in person. He recalled the people he knew who were killed and wounded during the incident.
Gao Guangjun, an exiled human rights lawyer living in Europe, said the June 4, 1989, incident “caused communism to collapse” across the world.
“This year we haven’t written any open letters to the Chinese regime’s leaders like we did in the past, because they do not deserve it. They have lost too many chances [to atone for what they have done],” said Ding Zilin, the mother of one student who lost his life during the massacre.
Some artists performed songs that mourned the death of the “Tank Man,” Wang Weilin, who was immortalized in a photo of the incident. Wang stood in front of a line of Chinese Type 59 tanks the morning after the Chinese military forcibly removed protesters from in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
There was a common thread among those who gathered in front of the consulate—they said they would never give up exposing the human rights violations of the Chinese regime that has ruled China since 1949.
Dr. Li Tianxiao of Columbia University said, “We have changed a lot, and we have given the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enough opportunities, but the CCP debased and defied our hopes again and again.”
Ms. Liu, who attended the protest, said that she was born in 1989 and knew very little about the massacre until just two years ago. The Chinese regime’s tight control on information kept her from learning the truth while living in China. She said that she was shocked when she found out the facts through information obtained by circumventing the regime’s tight control of the Internet.
A bus driver from Shanghai recounted his experience of witnessing the massacre in person. He recalled the people he knew who were killed and wounded during the incident.
Friends Read Free