Portal:History/Featured article/March, 2006

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre), were a series of student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the People's Republic of China, between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. The protest, denouncing China's economic instability and political corruption, was violently suppressed by armed soldiers ordered into Beijing by the PRC government. Although student protests had been occurring for over a year, the famous protest began in the mid-April 1989. It was triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang, respected among students and intellectuals, the general secretary of the CCP between 1981 and 1987, and who was forced to resign by Deng Xiaoping. The protests began on a relatively small scale, in the form of mourning for the late Hu, and demands that the party revise their official view of him. The protests grew larger after news of confrontation between students and police spread, and a stand-off between demonstrators and the Chinese Communist Party intensified. After several weeks, Party officials decided to forcibly remove the protesters through military force, and an estimated 2,600 people died in the ensuing conflict.