New Documents: Tiananmen Square Protest Death Toll was 10,000

By Allen Cone 

People visit Tiananmen Square, the site of the deadly 1989 student protests, in Beijing on July 14. The

death toll in the Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests was 10,000 people,

according to newly released documents. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

UPI -- The death toll in the Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests was 10,000 people, according to newly-released documents.

China's government has said between 200 and 300 civilians died in the pro-democracy uprising on June 4, 1989. The political protests had lasted seven weeks until the army, which included 27 armored personnel carriers, was sent in.

But recently unsealed U.K. diplomatic cables sent at the time of the uprising now shed doubt on those estimations.

"Minimum estimate of civilian dead 10,000," reads the final sentence of a secret diplomatic cable: written on June 5 from Alan Donald, Britain's ambassador to China at the time. He said the figure was based on someone who "was passing on information given him by a close friend who is currently a member of the State Council."

The council is run by the premier.

The cables, held at the National Archives in London, were declassified in October, They were seen by the HK01 news site.

The document describes in detail the massacre. Wounded female students begging for their lives were allegedly were bayoneted, human remains were "hosed down the drains" and one mother was shot attempting to help her injured 3-year-old daughter.

"Students understood they were given one hour to leave square but after five minutes APCs attacked," he wrote. "Students linked arms but were mown down including soldiers. APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make 'pie' and remains collected by bulldozer. Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains."

Activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan commemorate the anniversary date each year.

All activists' commemorations of the event are banned in mainland China. The government also regulates online discussion of the incident, including censoring criticism.

In November 2016, a peaceful pro-democracy march that drew thousands of people in Hong Kong turned violent. They had marched 2 1/2 miles across town to oppose Beijing's decision to determine the fate of two lawmakers who called for outright independence of Hong Kong from China.

Car Set Alight in Paris Suburb During Anti-Police Protest

A complex situation in Paris was made much worse by the government's absurd attempt to 'downplay' an horrific event

Parisiens have endured a long state of emergency that exists in France because of the threat of terrorism, a threat made very current by the arrests yesterday of four conspirators. On Feb. 2nd, during an ID check, a young black man was hit with a baton on the buttocks, his pants were dropped and he was, apparently, raped by the baton of a policeman. 

This was bad enough but then the police said that his pants fell down on their own, and the government backed the police claiming that the rape was 'unintentional'. How absurd! Did they actually think Parisiens were stupid enough to fall for that?

Thanks to social media, a protest against police violence was quickly organized. Except for the car-burning, the protest was kept under control. Nevertheless, this makes a statement that when people, even police officers, do something heinous, it has to be admitted openly and honestly. 

Covering up assaults, whether by police or asylum seekers, will turn people against those who are stupid enough to hide the truth. Media, police, governments will not be trusted.

Protesters against police violence have set a car on fire during a rally in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, which followed a police officer’s assault on a 22-year-old man.

Dozens of young people have occupied an empty lot in Bobigny in the prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis department. Some of the protesters have been carrying banners saying “Justice for Theo,” the name of the young man who was sexually assaulted by a police officer with a truncheon.

Hundreds of people gathered in Bobigny not far from the courthouse earlier today to protest police violence, Le Parisien reported. The demonstration began peacefully, but turned violent at around 3pm local time.

“We decided to organize this gathering. The announcement has been running on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat… it made some noise, it shows how much people can’t stand this situation anymore,” one of the organizers said, according to France Bleu Paris.

The 22 year-old man, identified only as Theo, was attacked with a baton during what police later said was an ID check in Aulnay-sous-Bois (another Paris suburb), on February 2.

A CCTV camera footage shows a police officer “applying a truncheon blow horizontally across the buttocks with a truncheon” and after that Theo’s pants “slipped down on their own," a police source cited by AFP said.

Judging by eyewitness accounts and the video, “there are insufficient elements to show that this was a rape,” the source added.

One of the police officers was charged with rape and three others with aggravated assault. The case is currently under investigation.

Theo believes that the police officer used the baton “on purpose,” television station BFM quoted him as saying.

After a search, Theo was handcuffed and taken to a police car, where officers again insulted him, spat at him and gave him beatings.

At the police station, another officer saw his injuries and he was sent to the hospital where he was treated for an anal tear.

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