Tiananmen Square: Massacre Crushes China's Democracy Movement (Snapshots in History)

Pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 in Beijing’s mammoth Tiananmen Square led to a violent crackdown by the Chinese army that killed perhaps several hundred people and shocked the world. Hardly anyone thought the government would treat its own citizens so harshly. The suppression was followed by attempts to seize and punish people connected with the protests, especially the student organizers. Some were executed, and others were still being held almost 20 years later, as China hosted the 2008 Olympic Games.