Tension rises ahead of 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen massacre

Tension rises ahead of 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen massacre. June. 02, 2012 05:40. koh@donga.com.

"Let’s all wear mourning clothing and do silent prayer at plazas or other places at 2 p.m. June 3 and 4 to remember the victims of the June 4 incident."

This is an instruction for action presented by Morihua, an anti-Beijing website whose server is based in another country, to the Chinese people Thursday. June 4 is short for the Tiananmen Square massacre that occurred June 4, 1989.

Tension is escalating in China ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the incident mainly because this anniversary is the first memorial of the massacre since the pro-democracy Jasmine Revolution swept the Middle East and Northern Africa last year. The pro-democracy community in China is also in an upbeat mood due to the release from house arrest of blind dissident Chen Guangcheng.

According to sources, such as the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao on Friday, more than 10 human rights activists held a street rally Tuesday in Nanping, Fujian Province, demanding the reinstatement of rights for victims of the Tiananmen massacre. They submitted to a court an appeal endorsing Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s demand for political reform. A protest was also held in Guiyang, Guizhou province, around the time.

In early May, more than 20 people held a June 4 memorial gathering in Jinan, Shandong Province. Most of them had been punished as political prisoners following the Tiananmen incident, but some of them were reportedly college students.

The Tiananmen Mothers’ Club, an organization of bereaved families of the massacre`s victims, delivered an open letter co-signed by the group`s 121 members to the government urging Beijing to re-evaluate the protest rally 23 years ago.

In the wake of this development, Pang Jiang, who immigrated to the U.S. after losing both of his legs to a military tank in the Tiananmen massacre, reportedly entered Hong Kong on Thursday. His arrival further escalated the fever of honoring the Tiananmen victims. Pang will reportedly attend a candlelight vigil scheduled in Hong Kong.

Also in Hong Kong, the book "Background and Truth: the June 4 Operation Sparrow" was published to shed light on secret organizations and their activities to smuggle out overseas civic activist leaders who spearheaded the Tiananmen demonstration in 1989. Through Operation Sparrow, Chen Daijiang and others helped 133 anti-government activists from the Chinese mainland get to the U.S. and other countries in collaboration with pro-democracy activist groups in Hong Kong.

The operation`s name is derived from the Chinese proverb, “When a mantis (the Chinese government) seeks to prey on a cicada (the wanted), a sparrow (underground organization in Hong Kong) is behind (to snatch the cicada up).”

Beijing is cautiously responding such moves. Authorities arrested three participants at the Guiyang protest late last month.

The Chinese government is also implicitly displaying its intent to prevent a chaotic situation from intensifying due to its reckless response ahead of the shift in power this fall.