30 Years Ago Marks The Historic Tiananmen Square Protest

It’s been 30 years since the pro-democracy, anti-Communist demonstrations in China’s Tiananmen Square. Images of Chinese military tanks running down protesters shocked the world in 1989, calling attention to China’s human rights abuses.

The protests lasted for six weeks and produced earth-shaking images, like one of a lone man standing before a military tank, refusing to budge in the face of deadly force.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the Chinese government to take responsibility for killing civilians during the demonstrations. The Chinese government has refused to acknowledge the anniversary, and a spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. called it an insult to the people of China.

Pompeo said China “abuses human rights whenever it serves its interests” and called on Chinese officials to “make a full, public accounting of those killed or missing to give comfort to the many victims of this dark chapter of history.”

(Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Widener)

The spokesman for the Chinese embassy accused Pompeo of using “the pretext of human rights” to get the U.S. involved in China’s internal affairs. However, other countries–including Taiwan–have demanded that the Chinese government take responsibility for the deaths of civilians in Tiananmen Square.

Pompeo called the demonstrators “heroes.”

“We salute the heroes of the Chinese people who bravely stood up thirty years ago in Tiananmen Square to demand their rights. Their exemplary courage has served as an inspiration to future generations calling for freedom and democracy around the world,” Pompeo said in a statement about the anniversary.