Speaking on the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken on Saturday that ‘despite attempts to eradicate history, the US continues to promote respect for human rights whenever they are threatened.’
Blinken further hailed the protestors of the Tiananmen Massacre for their bravery in ‘demanding democracy while protesting peacefully.’
“33 years have passed since the world watched brave demonstrators and bystanders peacefully demand democracy in Tiananmen Square. Despite the removal of memorials and attempts to erase history, we honor their memory by promoting respect for human rights wherever threatened,” Blinken wrote in a tweet.
The Tiananmen Massacre
In April 1989, peaceful gatherings of citizens in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and other Chinese cities demanded freedom of expression, accountability, and an end to corruption. The government suppressed the protests in late May 1989 by declaring martial law.
On June 3 and 4, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers shot and killed a number of peaceful protesters and bystanders. In response to the military violence, citizens attacked army convoys and burned vehicles in Beijing.
Afterwards, the government, in a nationwide crackdown, arrested thousands of people on charges of ‘counter-revolution’, arson and disrupting social order.
The Chinese government never accepted responsibility for the massacre noe did they held any officials legally accountable for the killings of the protestors.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Chinese authorities, increased the harassment and persecution of activists for commemorating the June 04, 1989 Tiananmen Massacre over the last year.
A few months back, Hong Kong’s universities began removing the Tiananmen memorials. The University of Hong Kong removed ‘Pillar of Shame’ from the university premises in December 2021. It was a large sculpture commemorating the massacre victims.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong also removed the ‘Goddess of Democracy’ statues from the premises,. It was modelled taking insporation from the original statue created by students at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
