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Wikileaks Cables Say No Bloodshed Inside Tiananmen Square
netchaos writes "Secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing have shown there was no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square when China put down student pro-democracy demonstrations 22 years ago." Which is not to say that everything was flowers and wine: "Instead, the cables show that Chinese soldiers opened fire on protesters outside the centre of Beijing, as they fought their way towards the square from the west of the city."
Think about how long a million people would be allowed to camp outside the US capitol buildings, especially if they were harassing and looting.
It happened, recall the Bonus Army. *four* people died. Not hundreds (or possibly thousands, accounts vary) like in or around Tiananmen Square.
I was working for CTV news in Toronto at the time and I saw the raw footage of a protester getting run over by a tank and squashed like a bug. It's not something you forget. The footage was edited down to make it look like the tank had stopped, which it did, hesitating for a few seconds.
Two weeks later we were visited by the Chinese head of media and they were given a full tour of the facility.
This should have been in the summary, then I wouldn't have wasted my time thinking the Chinese military peacefully put down the protest, an the US government lied to us about it, and then for a few moments afterwards that Slashdot is controlled by the Chinese trying to put a different face on it.
Slashdot you're beginning to really suck.
Was this footage made public? If not, why not?
vi ~/.emacs # I'm probably going to Hell for this.