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Show Al2 The Salt Lake Tribune WORLDThursday, June 3, 1999 Tiananmen Square Uprising Was Day Of Horror, Heroism burning buses away and opened a climb up the terrace and silence the students’ loudspeakers passage for the soldiers. Thelast roadblocks to Tiananmen Square mounted high on the monument with their automatic rifles. Some other soldiers burned down the were conquered and left behind by the army. Afriend, Chang Jinyu, a pho- tent of Beijing Independent wasshooting pictures of the scene the square, already abandoned by the workers. At the same time, tens of thousands of soldiers in green uniforms and steel caps poured out, tographer for Bridge magazine, @ Continued from A-1 Workers Union at the corner of at the northeastern cornerof Xidanintersection. A soldier carry- ing an AK-47 dashed toward the the outskirts of Beijing into the city. Students, workers,taxi drivers, peddlers and even grandmothers went into action They moved concrete blocks marking bicycle lanes on the roads and roadside metal railing and creat edbarriers to stop army vehicles at crowd. Everybody ran, she said. She did not. Instead, she spontaneously picked up her automatic the Department of International tion, one of Beijing's commercial saw a huge crowd swarming over an army busslanted 45 degrees in Somepeople in thefront shout- and they looked provincial. They were People’s Liberation Army This incident was one of the earliest sightings ofsoldiersin the western part of town. It was an indication that the army might haveintended to infiltrate its men into the city first, performing reconnaissance, setting up foot- holds. occupying critical positions, and waiting inside thecity for their comrades. It also might Bodiesof dead civilians lie near Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, after tanks and soldiers stormedthe area to bring an end to student demonstrations for democratic reform in China Friday is the 10th anniversary of the assault, which killed hundreds and endedprotests. with him. Theytold methat the 7 o'clock eveningtelevision news and Beij ing radio station broadcast an “urgent notice,” issued by the martial-law headquarters. “Wesolemnlydeclare that nobody may use any excuse to law lessly intercept military vehicles. obstruct and besiege the Libera- tion Army, and obstruct martial- law units from carrying out their duties,” the notice warned “If there are people whorefusetolis be possible that the armydeliber- ten to admonitions, act willfully and defy the law, then the mar- into the city personnel and the armed police ately sent small groupsof soldiers without reinforce. nents to be capturedandinsulted vy the demonstrators Thus, the army, by sacrificing some men in order toignite the velligerent mood of thesoldiers. could create an excuse to justify sending troops to clear the square. Ilowever, no one could decipher the true nature of the spisode at that moment A Sack of Weapons: A few youny wen wearing headbands pried the bus door open and lin. They searched and ick of assault weapons helmets. The soldiers to stop them A young V light machine gun and the bus. Anoth: elmet and followed naan AK-47 in his onto] p of if he was showing the 'y ampsh of the people's td someone saying. bo ammunition.” An imswered, “They will probabt hp in the ammunition falemate continued. {le after stignant By left the scene at a lit pan. the bus remained surrounded by a thick crpwd of people. We did not know how the jneident ended {about 7 pim., Lrode mybicy cle toa friend’s home to the west of Zhonynanhai, the Chinese gov erement compound adjoining the Forbidden City just a couple of blucks west of the square, to ar range a trip on Sunday. 1 went worthern part of the wuntered nothing un- through the cily and enc arived at my friend's uM oabout 8. he was talking ighbors about develop: Tiananmen Square vou heard the gunfire? id. He was skittish “Iamnot ung anywhere 1 am scared to death” His neighbors agreed Two APCs rolled over the square, flattening the tents scattered around. Standing on the square in front of the Great Hall of the People, where China holds official ceremonies for visiting foreign heads ofstate, I saw the Goddess of Democracyfail under the treads of an APC. By this time, all around the square was fully packed with soldiers, and they kept gushing out from the east gate of the Great Hall of the People. At 5 am, 100,000 soldiers, shoulder to dan. There were many injured in the middle of the Changan Ave- nue soldiersin plain clothes People from the subway through underground tunnels. In about 20 minutes, the lights came on again. her legs gave out. She fell to the ground unconscious People carried her ona tricycle and rushed her to the Beijing Hospital for Postal and Telegraph Workers not far away from Xi- centers about three miles west of Tiananmen, at about 2:30 p.m We speechless. They were tanned, ried an AK-47 and a woodenstick. Morethan 30,000 soldiers had assembled in the Great Hall of the off. Then she quickly turned and ran back. She wanted to runfaster. but after sevenor eight steps News of Xinhua News Agency andI passed the Xidan intersec ting in the bus, motionless and Hallof the People. Every one car- membered seeing the soldier raising his gun, and her flash went roadintersections Colleague Yao Wei. aneditorin ed at the soldiers, “Turn back! Do not come to Beijing’ We do not need you!” Mostpeople werejust curious onlookers. About 10 young men, dressed in white shirts and without hats, weresit- waveafter wave, from the Great camera and pressed the shutter almost at the sametime. She re- tial-law units. the public security force have the right to handle the the old city wall. “There has been shooting at Muxudi,” someone said. Muxudi is about five miles west of Fuxingmen. A moat 100 feet wide and feet deep aroundthe old citywall ran swiftly through, protecting theinner city fromintruders. The only pass a six-lane concrete bridge over the moat connecting the Changan Avenue that ranall the way through Tiananmen Square to theeastern districts of the capital. Later I learned that the students and citizen demon strators made full use of the old defense system I reached Changan Avenue at about 9 p.m. The army had not mobility. Rocks kept dumping. making popping sounds on the shields. The policedid not have a middleof the road. The police umbrella formation collapsed and the columndisinte- grated. The troops were running for their lives in all directions. Somepolicemenraninto bicycles lying on the road, tumbled back ward, and fell Their hands and faces, cut by bicycles and flying rocks, were drenchedwith blood. Someothers quickly vanishedin the darkness people to remain into thealle; f areas of central Beijing from Fuxinmen in the west. They wore olive uniforms, black leath er boots and anti-riot_helme and carried clear shields in one hand and clubs in the other The column stayed together tightly and marched swiftly in the middle ofthe wide avenue night, the army columns finally Thadmissedthe broadcast on my way downtown. I felt. however. that something ominous would happen that evening Earlier Demonstrations: The May 4, 1919. student demonstra tion on Tiananmen Square. which is described in every modern his tory textbook in China. was on my mind. More recently, | missed the April 5. 1976. movement when tens of thousands of people laid wreaths on Tiananmen Square and dedicate to the late Premier Chou high school at the tim: These: movements found impact on history. Buzzing the Police: \ huge crowd of people and wild young men onbicycles whizzed up on both sides of the road in front of the police. There was some dis tance between the protesters and he well-equipped police troups. rf os people and had become mile stones in Chinese of paramilitary police looming | want ed to witness history in the mak ing. Instead of going home and staying away from danger, 1 got on my bicycle and headed toward ind noclash occurred at the mo ment. In just a matter of 10 utes, the column hid arti in front of the Mina Hotel At the same time, r¢ idents also rushed ley into the street from every alley way. The anti-riot police coluin restless students and ordinary cit izens on bieyeles or on foot streamed aimlessly on the eight lane Changan Avenue illuminated with the hazy yellow glare of streetlights. Most of the people dressed in sweat-stained ‘I’-shirts and shorts. as Beijing was hot and humid. The tension was even hotter than the early summer days. Lalso noticed that the caplured army bus and the soldiers | saw in the afternoon near Xidan were gone. with hands, others covered ne sioses ir faces with clothes or shirts to pro tect themselves. mighty and determined. com pare d with the plain-clothed and fearful soldiers who sneaked to 1 early in the afternoon, or and ked all over the Chany. e It was impossible for army But wider the treads of the armored porsonnel the iron bars and abandoned They ks. bicycles, dried tree branches. anmen Square. The viliz velle net lined nd answered The tear gas was effective Wherever the police pointed their tear-gas pistols. people swirled away and retreated for shelter However, the paramilitary: fe did not have enough men to han dle theprotesters flying rocks from all directions. Soon they ran out of tear gas hey retracted their offensive strategy and re versedit to defensive, shrank to the center of the road, and pieced their shields together to form a Fuxingmen. heads and legs from the rock shower As soon as the police troops crouched down, they lost their huge umbrella. ‘Then they squat ted down to protect both their I retreated to the intersection on my bike, just about 300 feet ahead of the rollin. APCs and marching soldiers, and had to loop around the south corner to pass the barricade, 1 stood on the south side of the boulevard and waited Before the army reached the Xidan intersection, people set the bus roadbarriers ablaze. Ihe gas oline flame erupted 40 feet high in the sky and lighted up the shopsat thecorners. | couldseein the firelight that some pioneer soldiers shot their way around the corners, but the marching col umns halted) No Shots Fired: The whole demonstrators, gathered on the terrace around the Monumentto process endedin less than 30 min- the People’s Heroes in the center of the square. Some workers as- not see anyone die. More than 100,000 soldiers gathered on the square, and no more than 1,000 students remained at dawn. Had utes. | did not hear a shot. I did sembled in a big green canvastent at the northwest corner of square with a banner reading “Beijing the soldiers opened fire, they Independent Workers Union. ‘An armored personnel carrier would have shot themselves. But not for long. The two APCs easily pushed the testers. Standing on the edge of the squareatthe northeast corner est whenit reported to the world of the Great Hall of the People, I could see the engine exhaust and hear the echoes of the engine. The APC accelerated and maneuvered onthesquareitself that no students had been killed When I left the square at 7 a.m soldiers had blocked the entranc and pushedthe crowd back. They near the Goddess of Democracy. a openedfire,just 10 feet away, but plaster statue resembling the Statueof Libertyerected by Beij- they were shootinginto the sky I pedaled back to Xinhua Ney ingarts students on May 29facing Agency. a fewbusstops southwest the Tiananmenrostrum. But the of APC got too close to the crowd Xidan. When I turned the Tiananmen direction, like car racing on the freeway. I! passed meinjust half a block at jump forward, but failed the Luobukou intersection. More than a dozen students, holdir their school banner, were walkir westward on the avenue. Whe Finally, the APC ground to a halt in front of the Tiananmen rostrum and burst into flames. they saw the tank, they shouter slogans and threwrocksatit The APCcouldhaveescaped ear lier by running over the crowd. It soldier stuck his head out on toy did not The first columns of andshota tear-gas canister Then the tank whirled and crushed the dozen students and marching along the stoppedinfrontof the of the People onthe westernside the parkedbicycles andthe road side railing at the southwest cor ner of the Luobukou intersection of the square. Endless troopsfol lowed. Within a few moments, dozens of tanks that I had not seen before at Xidan and on the Chang: an Avenue rumbled into the just 30 feet from me After the situation calmed down, some surviving students andcitizens carried a couple of squareand parkedin front of the ‘Tiananmenrostrum, with the por bodies off the avenuetothestreet in front of the Beijing Concert trait of Mao Tse-tung overlooking them. I looked at my watch It was 2a.m. June 4, 1989 Hall. The bodies were nothing like those yousee in movies. The pied the entire Changan Boule. normally impossible angles, blood limbs weresevered or dangling in Soonthetroopsandtanks occu vard, eclipsing the northern side still dripping, clothes ripped off of the square. They did not sp the square with assault weapons es closed and faces twisted Someone pulled a red student card from a young man’s shirt pocket. I saw the man wasa stu- Instead, they sat down and sang army songs to cheer themselves. The protesters boomed the Inter: nationale. dent squarewent off. Disguisedin the darkness, I saw some People’s Liberation Army commandos from Gansu Province ko bodies on a gray Beijing-130 truck, flapping a Red Cross flag. andtook the bodies away ae BROKENIN 1999f'CGfWIRELESS WILL PAY YO : es BILL FOR SIX MON er than your fly fishing, hiking, mountain Dakin. world-class limbing witdoor fan 7 i at all abi Hyon have to de efor call PSO0-N01. 2610 euniree A Delta ilo Fhct05eweLCOWSTONE am GRAND PRI A CHICAGO TO WATCH ALL SPRINT PHONESARE 15-50% OFF FOR $29.99 PER MONTH 400 MINUT’ FOR $49.99 wetwae 2 i t ATM aN THK SPRINT ITAL MATION BASEBALLS, HATS AND PE! NNANTS, | } 120 MINUTES PER MONTH | remote control finger: | ENO Ee CRO De UU ne SRNR MND EE in northwest China. In about half an hour, a few civilians loaded the At 4 o'clock, the lights on the IF THE HOME RUN F CORD'IS ~ Exercise.something: | on Changan Avenuenear Zhongnati hai, I sawa tank coming fast fron PLAY THE HOMERUN PAYOFF SCRATCH GAME AND WIN v It was unnecessary for the over whelming troops to use deadly forceto clear the square. I believe the Chinese government was hon east, followed bya crowdof pro- sticks and metal bars into the treads of the vehicle. It tried to dividers metal railing entangled and advance. berofsoldiers, students, about 2,000 hard-core cles. ucks to dents were squeezed out of the square by the overwhelming num- of the approaching army had spread on the square. Most of the and was swamped by sea of people. batteredby rocks and.Dot tles. Some people stuck wooden carriers (APCs). fled them, beat them with rifle butts and woodensticks. The stu- Confrontation Nears: News the paramilitary police Students andcitizens had set up road barriers to block army vehi the police withbricks and stones News came that the army was advancing from the west into the inner city through Muxudi and the western gate of armored personnel carriers rolled over Changan Avenue from west to east ‘The army looked The Xidanintersection was th last critical pass leading to ‘Tian people snatched at their As darkness crept over the city assault weapons. and led by two ing teargas into the crowd Tiananmen Square in eight-lane east and west and leading to helmets and army boots. holding were crushed like of people Suddenly, police started shout across Beijing Soldiers Arrive: Around mid. was quickly engulfed in the mass boulevard running Changan Avenuc motorbikes, had retreated to the knocking over road barriers roared into the square from the arrived. The soldiers, dressed in camoufl uniforms, combat Conerete road ment to the People’s Heroes, where the remaining students were holding out. I could see somestudents sitting on the terrace, refusing to leave. The front row of soldiers pushed and shuf- with Changan Avenue,the square wasrelatively calm. A crowd of square from the west. and hammered the police in the shoulder, swarmed the Monu- ahead of the army. Compared young people. many on whisking cle westward to the Minzu Hot just a few blocks from the Xidan intersection. when T saw a column to venture to ‘fiananmen Square quick medical attention and the help of the onlookers. I pedaled to Tiananmen Square carried bicycles from the roadsides, held them over their heads appearedyet. | pedaled my bicy at home and not Chang survived because of the chance to stand up andrun. The citizens took the opportunity situation by force The broadcast also urged the hospital waiting to be treated. After learning that Chang was a journalist, a doctor in his 50s sent her to the operating room immediately. A bullet had pierced her lung and lodged near her heart. Sprint PCS" |