Crackdown on Tiananmen mourning 25 years on

Yin Min held the ashes of her son and wept as she marked 25 years since he was killed in the crackdown by Chinese tanks and troops on protests at Tiananmen Square.

Outside, guards kept a close eye on her home while police blanketed central Beijing to block any public commemoration of one of the darkest chapters in recent Chinese history.

“How has the world become like this? I don’t even have one bit of power. Why must we be controlled so strictly this year?” Yin asked. “I looked at his ashes, I looked at his old things, and I cried bitterly.”

China allows no public discussion of the events of June 3-4, 1989, when soldiers backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers fought their way into the heart of Beijing, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of unarmed protesters and onlookers.

Yesterday, scores of police and paramilitary troops patrolled the vast plaza and surrounding streets in Beijing’s heart, stopping vehicles and demanding identification from passers-by.

Some relatives of the crackdown’s victims were allowed to pay their respects at cemeteries — but only with police escorts. Others did so at home under surveillance, expressing frustration at the restrictions.

“I told my son this morning, ‘Your mother is powerless and helpless, after more than 20 years I don’t even have the chance to appeal for support’,” said Yin, whose 19-year-old son, Ye Weihang, was killed in the crackdown.

Police have kept a round-the-clock surveillance of her home since April, and relatives’ hopes of gathering and holding a public commemoration were dashed.

“You’re not only reopening my scars, you’re spreading salt and chilli powder into them,” Yin said she told her minders.

The Chinese government has largely ignored relatives’ demands for an admission of wrongdoing and for a complete, formal accounting of the crackdown and the number of casualties.

Beijing’s verdict is that the student-led protests aimed to topple the ruling Communist Party and plunge China into chaos. Protest leaders said they were seeking broader democracy and freedom, along with an end to corruption.

Near the square in Beijing, reporters were told to leave following the daily crack-of-dawn flag-raising ceremony and there were no signs of demonstrations or public commemorations. Dozens of dissidents and other critics have already been detained by police, held under house arrest, or sent out of the city in what they say is a more restrictive clampdown than usual, reflecting the increasingly conservative political atmosphere under President Xi Jinping.

On normal days, the vast plaza is closely watched by surveillance cameras and plainclothed police, but most people are allowed to enter without having their IDs checked. Yesterday’s measures, including the deployment of hundreds of security and emergency services personnel, was a dramatic tightening.

Authorities allowed about 12 relatives of four people killed in the crackdown to pay their respects at a cemetery in Beijing, but they were under police escort and were watched by several dozen plainclothed officers, according to Zhang Xianling, a member of a group that campaigns for the crackdown’s victims.

They laid flowers and bowed three times, as is customary in Chinese mourning, Zhang said, and one of them read from a prepared text.

“A quarter of a century has passed since the June 4, 1989, massacre. In these endless 25 years, not a moment has gone by that we didn’t miss you,” said the text. “Our tears have run dry, our voices are already hoarse. Our temples have greyed, our gaits are already faltering. With the passage of time, we will bury our sorrow deep in our hearts and strengthen our faith and determination to pursue justice.”

Activist lawyer Teng Biao said the government’s repression only betrayed its frailty and fear of dissent. “Although the government appears stronger, they are more fearful, less confident, and have less sense of security,” Teng said.