Can't believe it was 25 years ago today. How quickly time passes.
Was sad to read that 1 man is still in jail for the protests. We may never know how many died (R.I.P) or who tank man was, but China has certainly changed a lot even without the democratic freedoms the protestors coveted.
Such an iconic picture.
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For me the worst part it how few Chinese people know what happened.
R.i.p.
The pageantry on display at the Palace of Westminster is a continual reminder of the remarkable evolution (of course similarly confrontational and bloody on occasions, as Black Rod's role today reminds us) of the world's oldest Constitutional democracy.
Whatever one thinks of the Monarchy and/or the quality of our politicians, we are very fortunate indeed to live with comparative liberty as a result of the efforts and sacrifices of so many down the centuries.
Hopefully one day, in their own way, the Chinese will get there.
................."Coalition's last stand" is Denis Skinner's quip this time...LOL
We now have a good Chinese friend who lives locally and only believes what happened because I have given her first hand accounts, though thankfully I missed the clampdown.
Can't expect them to take a beating lying down.
That's always going to be a natural assumption but he's never actually been identified so people can check has he?
There had been tension leading up to the day itself with protests by student organisations and so on, a group of well connected businessmen (some of whom are now among the richest in China) stepped in to act as intermediaries between the students and the State/Party.
I saw an interview with one of these business guys and he said that he told the students that they had made their point and the State/Party had taken note of their grievances but that they should now back off as they were putting the State/Party into a position from which they would have no choice but to crack down through fear of losing control.
Unfortunately the student leaders felt that this really was "the moment" and decided instead to ramp up the protests which was met with instant and brutal retaliation from the State/Party - most of which was unseen but was absolutely horrific.
As people can see from the government response to events in Xinjang the Chinese only have one gear in these events.
Like to think he was whisked of by people trying to keep him out of trouble and was never identified, but suspect that wasn't what happened.
The tentacles of the party run very deep indeed so there are lots of people with a vested interest in the survival of the regime and very few opportunities for organised opposition to emerge.