Six Years Ago This DayJune 5, 1989

 

Troops Rampage Through Beijing
Beijing Citizens Show Courage Beyond Belief

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Source: Compiled by Zuofeng Li from the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Reuters, June 5, 1989

BEIJING - Machine-gun and small arms fire ripped through the heart of the capital last night and early this morning as security forces continued to savagely suppress China's short-lived Freedom Spring.

Hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles clattered through the streets, firing long bursts from turret-mounted machine guns. At times the fire was directed at crowds of protesters still milling at intersections.

The Chinese official media proclaimed that the military had won a "glorious victory" over "scoundrels and rebellious elements." The government pledged to act "mercilessly" to "crush turmoil." Merciless is almost too mild a word to describe the military rampage.

In an assault witnessed by this reporter last night, soldiers firing AK-47 assault rifles charged a small knot of demonstrators on a major avenue. The protesters quickly dispersed. The soldiers then abruptly turned down a narrow market lane, shooting indiscriminately as shoppers screamed and scrambled for cover.

A young woman was killed, shot in the throat while carrying a basket of apricots. Several other people were seriously wounded. The soldiers made no attempt to assist the wounded.

Sections of the capital resembled a war zone, with dozens of buses burning at major intersections. Helicopters droned continuously overhead. Changan Avenue was strewn with rubble, smashed bicycles and overturned military trucks.

Three soldiers were reported killed, two of them crushed by their own tanks.

Tiananmen Square was cordoned off by at least 75 tanks and thousands of troops. Smoke rose as soldiers apparently set fire to the tents and lean-tos that had sheltered the youthful protesters.

Soldiers positioned around the square fired upon four Western journalists who approached on foot in daylight.

In at least seven major cities across China, crowds marched to protest the Beijing massacre. The cities included Shanghai, Changsha, Dalian and Shenyang. Troops did not intervene to stop the marches in the provincial cities.

Meanwhile, the remaining Tiananmen protesters were barricaded in the campus of Beijing University and the adjacent People's University, where they had driven a captured armored personnel carrier. Students could be seen firing the vehicle's machine gun into the air. Memorial vigils were held on the sprawling campus.

Early Monday morning, tanks roared up and down Changan Avenue, crushing hastily constructed barricades of food carts, bicycles and scraps of wood and metal. As the army trucks and tanks raced by, small knots of people cursed them, shaking their fists.

"Why don't you go home," shouted a pedicab driver. "You don't belong here with your guns pointed at us."

No sooner had the man spoken than one grinning soldier aimed his AK-47 rifle over the head of the driver and his passenger and fired several bursts. Both hit the ground, causing the soldier to roar with laughter.

"Pigs!" yelled the driver.

Gunfire rocked the city's embassy section at about 1 p.m. as troops moved north past the compound housing the American ambassador's residence and the press and cultural section of the U.S. Embassy.

"They're shooting right outside my office!" U.S. Embassy spokesman Andy Koss suddenly shouted in the midst of an early afternoon telephone interview. "They're army trucks. They're heading north on the road next to my office. Oh goddam it! It's unbelievable. They've got guns ready, they're shooting up into the air."

A column of 10 tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers that headed east out of Tian An Men Square around noon was stopped by a single man who stood in front of the lead tank, according to a Western witness. He climbed up on the tank, talked with someone inside, then climbed down and walked away alive.

Late Monday morning, a crowd stood surrounding soldiers at the Jianguomen Bridge, where some people have been shot to death.

Beginning around 1 p.m., gunfire was heard near the bridge. It was not immediately known whether people were injured or killed, but shortly after 1:30 p.m., an army truck was set on fire on the main highway near the bridge, and ammunition on the truck could be heard exploding.

A witness said the truck had broken down and been left behind when a convoy of about 100 vehicles passed by. Someone took a crowbar, forced open the gas tank and dropped in the burning stuffing from a captured helmet.

Protesters then moved on to at least seven other nearby abandoned army trucks and methodically set them on fire.

About 30 tanks and 15 truckloads of soldiers took up fighting positions facing east along the Changan Avenue at the major Jianguomenwai intersection, and explosions and small-arms fire were heard later, witnesses said.

One Western diplomat described seeing a solitary man crouching behind a bush laboriously making a petrol bomb in the early hours of Monday as an army convoy passed yards away from him. He finally made a direct hit on a tank.

According to Chinese witnesses, a mob in southwest Beijing lynched an army officer and left his corpse hanging from a bridge. There have also been cases of students sheltering captured soldiers from the wrath of other citizens.

But mainly the hatred of troops has brought a solidarity. "There has never been a unity among Beijing people as there is now," said one old man.

"We cannot cry any more. It is too evil for tears," said a young woman shortly after troops shot two people dead near her home. "We can only fight and try to tell the world."

"Blood must be repaid with blood," read one slogan daubed on a wall on Monday.

A diplomat commented: "So far the blood is flowing mostly one way."

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[Go to June 4th Homepage] [Go to CND Homepage]

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Excerpt from a Tsinghua Student's Diary:

~{⊙　１９８９年６月５日　星期一~}

~{　　早上起来，找了纸和笔，在林叔叔的书房里想把昨天经历的事写下来。才写了几~}
~{行，就听见“美国之音”的广播，说是军队进入北大搜查，开枪打死二十多个学生，~}
~{并抓走了一些学生。~}

~{　　我对军队在校园里开枪打死学生持怀疑态度。不过现在的情况下，军队进校搜查~}
~{、抓人，甚至开枪也是完全可能的。这消息使我觉得，学校也不是安全的地方，我呆~}
~{在林叔叔这里，不仅无事可做，还可能牵累林叔叔，而更重要的，是我放心不下放在~}
~{清华宿舍里的照片和笔记。我于是向林叔叔说，要回清华去，收拾整理一些东西。林~}
~{听我这样讲，就点头让我路上多小心。~}

~{　　我骑车回清华，经过花园街时，见到许多的学生骑着车，带着人，背着行李，三~}
~{五成群地由北往南而来，显然是准备去火车站乘火车离开北京。~}

~{　　回清华的一路上，都不断看到这些离校返家的学生。~}

~{　　回到清华，校园里气氛还算平静，不像有部队来骚扰过的样子。今天筹委会公布~}
~{的结果，仍有几十人失踪，死亡４人。他们是：化工系４字班的段昌隆，环境工程系~}
~{的刘弘，精仪系光６班的钟庆，第四个人的名字我没记住。钟庆是在木樨地被打死的~}
~{。据说军队开枪后，人们纷纷向两边的巷子走避，他们翻过居民大院的铁栅栏门躲到~}
~{居民楼内。此时，又有人跑到铁门边，后面的枪弹不断射来。钟庆他们跑出去帮助那~}
~{些人翻过铁门，他的同学正拉着一个人，只听身边的钟庆哼了一声，回头看他已经中~}
~{弹倒下。人们急忙找了辆板车拉他去医院，可是在路上他就死了，就死在他同学的怀~}
~{里（注１）。~}

~{　　今天的气氛，与昨天大不相同。校园里人心惶惶。人们纷纷传说，军队与军队之~}
~{间起了内讧，支持开枪的和反对开枪的，支持杨的和支持赵的，已经在城里城外交起~}
~{火了。城里，仍不断传来枪声。~}

~{　　大家都认为学校已非安全之地，而且一旦打起内战，学校是最好的驻兵场所。大~}
~{家都担心会被卷进一场无妄的战火之中。~}

~{　　走进宿舍，见到床上有大姐留的一张纸条，说她已到哲明家暂避，并告我需要时~}
~{也可去。少军仍和几个同学在调试那台新到的高速油印机，继续在干印刷、宣传的事~}
~{，地点则从２００移到２１６了。~}

~{　　中午在十食堂吃饭，见到昭雄带着一些同学在那里折纸花，准备做花圈，这是我~}
~{见到的还在活动着的组织，但我心中隐隐地觉得，这已经是十分无力和无用的行为了~}
~{。~}

~{　　晚上，在另一个宿舍里过了一夜。~}

~{　　庆庆：我当时在天津南开大学。我们有一个同学，是运动中的积极分子。６~}
~{　　·４以后他就不见了。当时很多同学都离校回家，我们以为他也回家了。可~}
~{　　是过了十多天，他家里人找到学校来，我们才知道他失踪了！~}

~{　　后来，经过多方打听，才知道他被抓进去了。过了很多个月，他才被放出来，~}
~{　　人变得很沉默，很少提狱中的情况。~}

~{　　据他说，６月５日上午，他到邮局去给家里发了封电报。出了邮局他正在马~}
~{　　路边考虑下面该干什么，忽然有人拍了一下他的左肩，他向左一回头，右胳~}
~{　　膊迅疾被人扭住，他急忙转头向右，左胳膊又被人扭住了。此时一辆吉普车~}
~{　　迅速驶到他旁边，两个汉子扭着他的胳膊把他推进了车。~}

~{　　一进车，两人就把他的胳膊扭得高高的，同时把他的头狠劲往下压，其中一~}
~{　　个还骂道：他妈的，共产党的天下也是你反的？！~}

~{　　他被押进了看守所，与许多刑事犯关在一起。同监房的有抢劫犯、强奸犯、~}
~{　　杀人犯。~}

~{　　牢房的条件很差，几平方米的房间里关了１２个人，吃喝拉撒都在里面。白~}
~{　　天，只能一个挨一个面对面地坐在板凳上。到了晚上，在板凳上架起床板，~}
~{　　一半人睡上，一半人睡下，同样是一个挨一个。~}

~{　　牢房里是弱肉强食的世界。那些强横的，叫“鹰头”，就睡床板上，那弱小~}
~{　　的，叫“鸟屁”，睡床板下。而刚进去的新犯人，只能睡在床板下的马桶旁~}
~{　　边。~}

~{　　我那同学是东北人，为人有血性，讲义气，在牢里混得还行。到他出来的时~}
~{　　候，已经是睡在“上铺”了。~}

~{注１：最近有朋友告诉我钟庆死亡经过的另一种说法，是在事后不久听钟庆同年级的~}
~{同学讲的。说是在木樨地的第一轮扫射之后，钟和他的同学都没受伤。他们听见后面~}
~{有受伤者痛苦的呻吟。钟庆大概以为射击已经过去，就爬起来想去查看身后的伤者，~}
~{此时第二轮扫射又起，钟庆的头、胸、腹三处中弹。~}

Six Years Ago This Day