Protestors marched in Hong Kong on May 27th not just to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on the democracy movement in China but to demand justice for the several hundred murdered (hundreds more were injured) when troops indiscriminately opened fire on unarmed protestors. The number of those shot in cold blood are not definitive but most estimate about 1,000 (not massacred in the square but in attempting to get to it). The placards read “Exonerate June 4th”. In spring of 1989, more than one million Chinese students & workers occupied Beijing’s Tiananmen Square & the upheaval spread to cities & universities nationwide. Tens of thousands in at least five cities began several weeks of the largest political protest movement since the communists came to power in 1949. In this brief video, the lone protestor known only as “Tank Man” attempted to block tanks heading to Tiananmen Square. To this day, the fate of that unarmed man remains unknown despite investigations to find out who he is & what happened to him. After the massacre on June 4th, Deng Xiaoping, the official responsible for ordering the massacre, blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries trying to overthrow communism. The leaders wanted to be able to do that themselves. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ
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