On April 15, 1989, pro-democracy student protests began in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The six-week-long protests ended on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese government ordered the People's Liberation Army to open fire and drive tanks through thousands of protestors, resulting in the deaths of between 50 to 2,500 people.
Pro-democracy student protests in Beijing simmered for weeks prior to the military crackdown on June 4, 1989. The most famous photograph from the protests was of “Tank Man,” an anonymous protestor standing in front of a row of Chinese military tanks. The number of people killed during the government crackdown on protestors at Tiananmen Square remains disputed, but estimates range between several hundred and several thousand.
Protestors surround a Chinese military convoy to keep them from getting to Tiananmen Square, the locus of the pro-democracy protests.
Riding motorbikes, Chinese workers parade through Beijing streets on May 18, 1989, in support of student hunger strikers gathered at Tiananmen Square, the scene of the mass pro-democracy protest led by students against the Chinese government. The April-June 1989 pro-democracy movement was crushed by Chinese troops in June 1989 when army tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square.
Paramedics evacuated an ailing student hunger striker from Beijing University on May 17, 1989, at Tiananmen Square as students entered the 5th day of a marathon hunger strike as part of the mass pro-democracy protest against the Chinese government.
Raising a banner that reads “Lift Martial Law and Protect the Capital,” journalists from the Communist Party’s official newspaper, the “People’s Daily” led a march towards Tiananmen Square on May 22, 1989, in an authorized demonstration in support of pro-democracy students. In a show of force on June 4, China leaders vented their fury and frustration on student dissidents and their pro-democracy supporters. Several hundred people were killed and thousands wounded when soldiers moved on Tiananmen Square during a violent military crackdown ending six weeks of student demonstrations.
A student shows off a stick to which is tied a broken bottle with the picture of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping as thousands of demonstrators gathered in Beijing streets near Tiananmen Square on May 25, 1989, during a rally to support the pro-democracy protest against the Chinese government. The name “Xiaoping” also means “little bottle.”
Pro-democracy demonstrators surround a truck filled with People’s Liberation Army (PLO) soldiers on May 20, 1989, in Beijing on their way to Tiananmen Square.
A Chinese worker shouts pro-democracy slogans during a mass rally in Beijing streets on May 17, 1989, in support of student hunger strikers gathered at Tiananmen Square.
At the end of the pro-democracy movement in China, a group of Chinese Army tanks block an overpass on Changan Avenue leading to Tiananmen Square where the Communist Government carried out its final brutal nighttime crackdown on protestors just a few hours earlier.
A tank driver is helped to safety by students after he was beaten by the crowd on June 4, 1989.
Hunger striking protestors are photographed during the student-led pro-democracy uprising in Tiananmen Square in May 1989.
A Chinese military helicopter drops leaflets into Tiananmen Square on May 22, 1989, telling protestors that they need to leave the square.
Chinese police watch a march consisting of tens of thousands of pro-democracy protestors on May 22, 1989.
Chanting bicyclists ride in a show of support for student-led pro-democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square.
Workers cover a portrait of Mao Zedong with a tarp after protestors pelted it with red paint.
This photo shows student leaders addressing comrade protestors during a pro-democracy uprising in Tiananmen Square on May 14, 1989.
A bloody protestor holds a Chinese soldier’s helmet during violent clashes between protestors and military forces on June 4, 1989.
Protestors set up tents in Tiananmen Square on June 3, 1989, before their protests were crushed by the People’s Liberation Army.
Crowds of students rush a police cordon and pour into Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
A dissident student asks soldiers to go back home as crowds flooded into central Beijing on June 3, 1989. On the night of June 3-4, 1989, Tiananmen Square sheltered the last pro-democracy supporters as Chinese troops marched on the square to end a weeks-long occupation by student protestors, using lethal force to remove opposition it encountered along the way. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed in the crackdown as tanks rolled into the environs of the square.
People Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers leap over a barrier on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing on June 4, 1989, during heavy clashes with people and dissident students.
A tank crushes a tent erected in Tiananmen Square by pro-democracy student protestors early on the morning of June 4, 2014.
At the end of the pro-democracy movement in China, onlookers examine Chinese Army trucks and vehicles that were damaged or destroyed during the night of violence in and around Tiananmen Square.
