Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh): Students for Free Tibet (SFT) has organized a ‘photo action’ protest to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 in China.
The action of SFT activists which was performed at Mainsquare, Mcleod Ganj in Dharamshala, is a recreation of the act of defiance by Tankman after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Tenzin Pasang, programme coordinator of SFT said: Today is the 33rd anniversary of the massacre that happened in 1989 in Beijing. So we are here doing a solidarity action for them. We are just marking that day and remembering the day when China massacred all the protestors who were asking for freedom of speech and press freedom.”
Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan activist said: “The tank behind me and the man, the tankman this represents Tiananmen square massacre June 4, 1989. This was the year when the people of China rose against the government demanding freedom and democracy in China but the Chinese government used all military force and also trembled upon the Chinese students and laborers and it happened 33 years ago and the situation in China has not changed.
“We as Tibetans stand in solidarity with the Chinese people demanding freedom and democracy in their country and also freedom for Tibet from China,” he said.
“China’s crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protestors in 1989 is one of the most notorious illustrations of authoritarian repression. But from those dark days came one of the most famous symbols of resistance: the person they know only as Tank Man. Standing defiant in front of a column of tanks, he represented the strength of the people’s movement for democracy in the face of the PRC’s totalitarianism,” he added.
Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 is China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations when Chinese troops opened fire on their own people.
Meanwhile, China is intent on erasing the memories of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 and has banned public commemorations on the 33rd anniversary of the country’s most dubious instance of State oppression.
The draconian National Security Law will be used to crack down on anyone showing public dissent or remonstration or organizing memorial functions on the occasion.
This year’s “June 4” – that is what the Tiananmen Square Vigil is known in Hong Kong – will be the first occasion when Hong Kong will fall silent, without any protests or commemoration. That will be the beginning of a new chapter of CCP aggression against the island which, in 1989, played a crucial role in organising the escape for the Tiananmen activists who survived the 1989 massacre. (ANI)
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