This year marks the 25th anniversary of the June 4 protests in China, where an unknown number of student protesters were killed in a government-ordered crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square. To this day, the Chinese government has blacked out all record of the incident. Online searches for the event in China reveal no mention of what happened that day.
The protests began on April 15, when the death of reformist politician Hu Yaobang prompted students to commemorate him at Tiananmen Square while calling on the government to reassess his legacy.
Within days, more protesters had gathered and they began writing about broader political issues, such as freedom of the press, democracy, and corruption. On April 27, some 50,000 to 100,000 students from all Beijing universities marched through the streets of the capital to Tiananmen Square to join the protest.
Two days ahead of a visit by then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on May 15, students began a hunger strike and sit-in inside the square to place additional pressure on the government. Martial law was declared on May 20, with the army attempting to enter the city, only to be blocked by protesters, retreating days later.
At some point, a 10-metre-tall statue known as the 'Goddess of Democracy' was erected in the square, facing a portrait of Mao Zedong. Soldiers were ordered to go ahead with the crackdown on June 3, and began the process of removing protesters from the Square, resorting to violence and firing their rifles. This continued into the morning of June 4. During this time, the Goddess of Democracy was toppled by a tank.
By morning, the students had begun to retreat. Anyone who tried to reenter the Square was fired upon by soldiers.
In what became an iconic moment of the crackdown, a lone man was filmed on June 5 standing in the middle of Chang'an Avenue, blocking a procession of tanks.
