Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Countless Chinese students and workers were killed while peacefully protesting the Communist Government.
Hello I’m Charlotte Bellis and you’re watching Newsy.com.
First we turn to
CBS for an account from a journalist that was on the scene in 1989.
Amid the violence Chinese citizens tried to help him, hoping he would bring awareness to their cause.
“Chinese people old and young came to us and said, "we will escort you away safely, too dangerous, you must show the world. People kept saying that to us that night, "you must show the world."”
As
CNN shows government officials in Tiananmen Square are closely watching news crews.
“these plain clothes officers are blocking our views..”
Al Jazeera English look deeper and reports that many Chinese know little about the incident or are too afraid to talk.
"‘I was still small, I don’t know anything.’
‘How long ago was this photo taken? This was taken in front of the Great Hall of the people wasn’t it?
'Sorry, I don’t care about politics.’”
Russia Today asks the question, was China ready for democracy 20 years ago?
“China was not ready for democracy at the time… China had 800 million peasants 200 million illiterate persons. China had 100 million people below the poverty line. And China had 100 million unemployed people. Chinese leaders said that if we give freedoms right away to these people they will destroy the country.”France 24 reports that Chinese students today share this viewpoint – but also have optimism for the future.
“How could they ask for more freedom? They had the opportunity to study the major of their choice at university and were then guaranteed a job. It’s crazy. Of course after seeing this footage I think it’s tragic, but after all it’s the past and now the country is getting better. Maybe what happened was inevitable.”
So what do you think, does the taboo nature of Tiananmen interfere with China’s ability to move forward with democracy?
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