Demonstrators participate in a candlelight vigil to mark the 16th anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square crackdown in Hong Kong June 4, 2005. REUTERS/Kin Cheung
China will have a tough time escaping it's history. Perhaps they can keep the truth a secret inside China, but the whole world knows what really happened.
China keeps watch on Tiananmen anniversary. 04/06/2005. ABC News Online
"The police are at the foot of my building," said Ding Zilin, head of the Mothers of Tiananmen group which has been fighting since 1989 for those responsible for the crackdown to be held to account.
"They told me clearly that they would not allow me to go to the cemetery today," Mrs Ding, whose son was among those killed, said. "For 16 years, I have never been able to go to the Muxidi intersection, where my son died," she said.
Mrs Ding was one of 125 people who sent an open letter to President Hu Jintao last week calling on the government to apologise."You and your predecessors have wiped the memory of the June 4 massacre from the books and have covered up this despicable event from history," the letter said.
"In this you have been very successful. You have been more thorough than those Japanese right-wing plotters who have tried to erase the history of the Nanjing massacre."
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China keeps watch on Tiananmen anniversary. 04/06/2005. ABC News Online
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1384644.htm]
Last Update: Saturday, June 4, 2005. 11:43pm (AEST)
China keeps watch on Tiananmen anniversary
Dissidents were under heavy police surveillance on the 16th anniversary of a crackdown on democracy activists in China.
Relatives of the hundreds, if not thousands of people who died on June 4, 1989 were monitored closely after being warned against any activities to remember the day when troops ploughed through unarmed citizens to end six weeks of unprecedented democracy protests.
"The police are at the foot of my building," said Ding Zilin, head of the Mothers of Tiananmen group which has been fighting since 1989 for those responsible for the crackdown to be held to account.
"They told me clearly that they would not allow me to go to the cemetery today," Mrs Ding, whose son was among those killed, said.
"For 16 years, I have never been able to go to the Muxidi intersection, where my son died," she said.
Mrs Ding was one of 125 people who sent an open letter to President Hu Jintao last week calling on the government to apologise.
"You and your predecessors have wiped the memory of the June 4 massacre from the books and have covered up this despicable event from history," the letter said.
"In this you have been very successful. You have been more thorough than those Japanese right-wing plotters who have tried to erase the history of the Nanjing massacre."
Contrary to last year, some parents who lost children in the massacre were able to visit a cemetery in the west of the capital where eight of the Tiananmen are buried, but they were also watched by security.
"State security came on June 1 to warn me against any activities or gathering," said Zhang Xianling, who lost her son in the killing.
"Today three police offers followed me and when we arrived at the cemetery, there were about 20 of them, hiding behind trees with their mobile phones," she said.
Extra police were also on hand at the city's Tiananmen Square for a daily flag-raising ceremony watched by scores of Chinese tourists.
Some of the visitors did not want to remember the bloodbath.
"This is not something I want to talk about. Just look at what our country has achieved in the past 16 years," said a 60-year-old retiree visiting the capital from southern Guangdong province.
The government used the same argument last week to defend its actions.
"Facts have shown that throughout the past 16 years - China's development on all sides, the progress of reforms, the further opening to the outside world, the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law - the conclusion at the time was correct," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said on Thursday.
The only commemoration on Chinese soil of the massacre is held annually in the former British colony Hong Kong, which was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Tens of thousands of people were expected at a candlelight vigil in the city late on Saturday.
Amnesty International on Friday called on the Chinese government to release all people imprisoned during the democracy protests and arrest those responsible.
"We reiterate our call on the Chinese government to conduct an independent inquiry into the killing of unarmed students and demonstrators. Those found responsible should be tried and brought to justice," the London-based rights group said in a statement.
"We also call on the government to release all those who are still imprisoned in connection with the Tiananmen crackdown and who never received fair trials."
-AFP
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