Thirty-six years after the killing of countless peaceful pro-democracy protesters in Beijing, the Chinese government still seeks to erase the memory of the June 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should cease censorship of the crackdown, allow commemorations, provide compensation to the victims' families, and hold accountable officials responsible for abuses.
As in previous years, as the June 4 anniversary approaches, authorities across China are making a preemptive crackdown on commemorations, notably those by members of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of relatives of Tiananmen Massacre victims.One prominent member, Zhang Xianling (张先玲), 87, told Radio Free Asia that even though she could barely "walk 200 meters without a wheelchair," the authorities continue to subject her and others to strict surveillance and restrictions on her movement.
"The Chinese government has never owned up to the Tiananmen Massacre, much less provided redress for victims and their families," said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Beijing's enforced amnesia has deepened authoritarian rule in China, yet it has not extinguished demands for the truth, democracy, and respect for human rights."
The preemptive crackdown on Tiananmen Massacre commemorations is a stark reminder of China's ongoing repression of dissent and its continued violations of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
The Tiananmen Massacre was precipitated by the peaceful gathering of students, workers, and others in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and other Chinese cities in April 1989, calling for free expression, democratic reform, and an end to corruption. The government responded to the intensifying demonstrations in late May 1989 by declaring martial law. On June 3-4, People's Liberation Army soldiers fired upon and killed numerous protesters and bystanders in Beijing.
The government's ban on commemorations has extended from mainland China to Hong Kong since mid-2020, when it imposed the draconian National Security Law over the city. Authorities first banned the annual Tiananmen Massacre vigil on Covid-19 grounds in 2020 and 2021, and in 2021 also forced the vigil organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance, and its June 4 Museum to close.
The authorities accused the Hong Kong Alliance and its three former leaders - Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, and Chow Hang-tung - of "inciting subversion" under the National Security Law, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The three have been in pretrial detention for more than three years; their trial is scheduled for November 2025. Chow and four other former Hong Kong Alliance members were also convicted of failing to comply with a national security police information request; their three- to four-and-a-half-month sentences were quashed in March 2025.
Some people in Hong Kong have persisted in their attempts to commemorate the Tiananmen Massacre near Victoria Park, where the annual vigil was held. Police have arrested dozens. On June 4, 2024, police warned a man whose phone flashlight was on while he sat alone on a park bench that this may constitute "sedition" under the National Security Law. Police arrested four people on ambiguous grounds that day; one was sentenced in December to ten weeks in prison for "assaulting police officers."
Censorship and self-censorship about the Tiananmen Massacre have become commonplace in Hong Kong. In November 2024, Hong Kong authorities changed the label of a lamppost, FA8964, as it contained an accidental reference to the date of the crackdown. In December 2024, Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific apologized for including content in its inflight entertainment system that featured a scene from the Tiananmen Massacre.
While the Chinese government enforces silence inside mainland China and Hong Kong, many have continued the legacy of the 1989 pro-democracy protesters. Most prominently, in 2022, a lone protester named Peng Lifa (彭立发) unfurled protest banners on a busy Beijing bridge, inspiring others and sparking the White Paper protests a few months later. Peng has been compared to the symbol of defiance, the "Tank Man" of the Tiananmen Massacre, who was famously captured on film blocking a column of tanks the morning after the crackdown.
Outside of China and Hong Kong, diaspora groups and anonymous social media accounts around the world have in recent years held public discussions, exhibitions, gatherings, and published essays to commemorate the crackdown. This year, 77 events in 40 cities in 10 countries have been planned.
Following the Tiananmen Massacre, the Chinese government carried out a nationwide crackdown and arrested thousands of people on "counterrevolution" and other criminal charges, including arson and disrupting social order. The government has never accepted responsibility for the massacre or held any officials legally accountable for the killings. It did not investigate the events or release data on those who were killed, injured, forcibly disappeared, or imprisoned. Tiananmen Mothers documented the details of 202 people who were killed during the suppression of the movement in Beijing and other cities.
The government has continued to ignore international and domestic calls for justice for the Tiananmen Massacre. Sanctions that the US government imposed in response to the massacre have over the years been weakened or evaded. The lack of meaningful international sanctions following the massacre and ensuing crackdown partly explains Beijing's brazen human rights violations in the ensuing decades, including crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang and the erasure of basic freedoms in Hong Kong, Human Rights Watch said.
On the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, the Chinese government should take the following steps:
- Respect the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and cease the harassment and arbitrary detention of those who challenge the official account of the Tiananmen Massacre;
- Meet with and apologize to members of the Tiananmen Mothers, publish the names of all who died or were wrongfully imprisoned, and appropriately compensate the victims' families;
- Permit an independent public inquiry into the Tiananmen Massacre and its aftermath, and promptly publish the findings and conclusions;
- Allow without conditions the return of Chinese citizens who were exiled due to their connections to the events of 1989; and
- Investigate all government and military officials who planned or ordered the unlawful use of lethal force against demonstrators and appropriately prosecute them.
Foreign governments should renew efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for its past grave abuses. They should also publicly mark the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, including in their embassies and consulates and online accounts in China, join diaspora activities around the world, and on June 4 press the Chinese government for accountability.
"Despite the Chinese government's efforts to repress memory of the Tiananmen Massacre, the incident continues to reverberate around the world," Uluyol said. "Foreign governments should support and echo acts of remembrance by commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre and pressuring Beijing to finally accept its responsibilities."
