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  • Images that still haunt the nation 25 years on from Beijing's Tiananmen Square massacre.

  • In the spring of 1989, more than one million people protested in the square, camping out

  • to demand freedom and change.

  • The movement was sparked by the death of Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, who had been removed

  • from office by party hardliners - subsequently becoming an icon for democratic reform.

  • Chinese troops opened fire on the pro-democracy demonstrators after they were ordered by the

  • military to enforce martial law in the country's capital.

  • The footage of a lone protester standing in front of a line of tanks - known now as "Tank

  • Man" has become one of the most powerful symbols of the 20th Century.

  • The man carrying two plastic bags, one in each hand, is seen standing directly in the

  • path of a column of armored tanks, effectively preventing them from moving down the avenue

  • towards the square.

  • Protesters did not attack or provoke the soldiers, but the military fired at them anyway.

  • The attack continued until June 5th.

  • During that period of time, tanks were sent out and they showed no mercy to the protesters.

  • Today's anniversary, also known as the June Fourth incident, has never been publicly marked

  • in mainland China.

  • But every year there are public commemorations in Hong Kong.

  • On 26th April this year a museum dedicated to the brutal 1989 crackdown opened in Hong

  • Kong despite a small group of pro-China protesters questioning its version of the truth.

  • Exhibits include video footage and newspaper articles from 25 years ago.

  • In a simple opening ceremony, the museum's founders tore apart a copy of a 1989 editorial

  • from the government mouthpiece newspaper People's Daily to reveal the logo of the museum.

  • Jonathan Chan, a Hong Kong resident, was a student when he flew to Beijing to show support

  • for the movement. He can vividly remember scenes from that day.

  • It was on the lobby, it was on the wall, all the blood spilled from the wounded people.

  • And...

  • People crying for help, moaning for their pain. It's unbearable.

  • Freedom is modern China, one of the most economically powerful nations in the world, remains a divisive

  • issue.

  • Ahead of the Olympics in 2008, there was unrest in Tibet with a series of riots and protests.

  • According to the Chinese administration governing Tibet, the unrest was motivated by separatism

  • and orchestrated by the Dalai Lama.

  • The spiritual leader of Tibet said he did not encourage the protests.

  • China's pledge to the world that the international media would be allowed to report freely during

  • the Beijing Games appeared broken after a British reporter was briefly detained by Chinese

  • police while covering a Free Tibet protest.

  • I've been arrested. These people have arrested me. I've been arrested by the Chinese police

  • for just trying to cover the protest here. I was inside the car...

  • ITV News's John Ray was forcibly removed along with demonstrators but was released shortly

  • afterwards.

  • Wrestled me up here, and they've taken my shoes off me. They've taken my equipment back.

  • They've taken all the equipment I've got, and they won't tell me why I've been arrested.

  • Are you arresting me? I want to talk.

  • In more recent weeks, China has rebuked the United States for calling for the release

  • of activists, including lawyers, professors and journalists, detained after attending

  • a meeting about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, saying Washington had no right to

  • demand criminals be set free.

  • The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also urged Vietnam to immediately stop what it says are

  • provocative and sabotaging actions against China's oil-drilling operation in the South

  • China Sea, and warned Japan to stay out of it.

  • Last week saw thousands of people queuing a subway station in Beijing to pass security

  • checks which have been tightened following a series of bloody attacks in China's troubled

  • western Xinjiang region.

Images that still haunt the nation 25 years on from Beijing's Tiananmen Square massacre.

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