First broadcast 4 June 1989. Chinese troops opened fire on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Saturday evening. The collection of students and labourers had been occupying the site for several weeks.Despite the outbreak of “unremitting gunfire”, the protesters refused to leave. The BBC’s Kate Adie reports from the scene.
The exact number of fatalities during the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, remains a subject of significant
debate and uncertainty. The Chinese government has never released an official death toll and has actively censored
information related to the event. As a result, estimates from various sources vary widely:
Initially, the Chinese government reported approximately 200 deaths. However, Western governments and media have
provided much higher estimates:
– The U.S. State Department suggested that several thousand people may have died.
– British journalists and eyewitnesses cited figures ranging from 1,000 to 10,000.
– Human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch provided estimates in the thousands but
acknowledged the lack of transparent reporting.
Academic studies and investigations often cite figures between 1,000 and 3,000 deaths. Some scholarly research
acknowledges that the true number could be higher, given the complex and chaotic nature of the event. Eyewitness
accounts from survivors and participants further complicate the picture, with some claiming that the death toll could
exceed several thousand.
Given the restricted access to reliable data and the Chinese government’s control over information dissemination
regarding the massacre, it is challenging to determine an exact figure. However, most international observers and
researchers lean toward a death toll in the thousands, making this one of the most tragic and heavily contested events
in modern Chinese history.
