On May 25, Taiwan’s Central News Agency published an interview with Liu Ruishao, who was a witness to the bloody massacre in Tiananmen Square. During that time, Liu was 35 years old and a director stationed in Beijing of Hong Kong’s Wenhui Daily.
As Liu recalled, on the morning of June 4, 1989, while he was standing near a tree not far away from Chang’an Street. He suddenly heard gunshots and saw many people fall. He felt the heat by his ears from the passing bullets. After he recovered from the shock, he discovered that the tree and the wall behind him were full of bullet holes.
The shots came from the direction of the northeast wing of Tiananmen Square not far from the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, which is now part of the National Museum of China.
The June Fourth Tiananmen Massacre that took place 30 years ago not only caused many once-enthusiastic Chinese college students to die full of doubt and despair, but also completely altered Liu’s view of the Chinese Communist regime. Till this day, he remains a critic of the regime.
The June Fourth Massacre that took place 30 years ago at Tiananmen Square caused many once-enthusiastic Chinese college students to die full of doubt and despair. (Image: Screenshot via YouTube)
“Their deaths were gruesome and there weren’t enough body bags.” During the interview, Liu became emotional as he recalled the brutal killings.
Liu said that after June 4, 1989, he visited the morgues of seven to eight hospitals in Fuxin, Xiehe, and Beijing. He could easily see 20 to 30 bodies in each hospital and many more were not even covered.
In Liu’s estimation, between those he saw gunned down on the streets and the bodies in the morgues, there were about 200 victims in the June Fourth brutal killing and this number was contrary to the statement made by the Chinese Communist Party’s spokesman, Yuan Mu, who said no one died in Tiananmen Square.
Before the June Fourth Incident, Liu had worked for Wenhui Daily for 16 years, including four years in London and three years in Beijing. During that period, Liu reported on many exclusive news stories by virtue of his position in the pro-communist Wenhui Daily and through his own effort.
He recalled that as early as the end of May 1989, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had already made plans to send in troops to suppress the students.
According to Liu’s sources, in late May 1989, the CCP began to deploy army troops to Beijing.
The first military units were told by their commander that “there were carnivals in Beijing” and they were needed to manage the resulting disturbances. The troops left for Beijing unarmed while their weapons were transported separately. They were blocked by civilians and were told that there were no riots in Beijing.
The second military units were deployed to Beijing immediately after, and were told by their commander that there was an “epidemic” in Beijing and they were needed to maintain order. Again, they were blocked by civilians and were told there was no epidemic.
The second military units were blocked by civilians and informed there was no epidemic. (Image: Screenshot via YouTube)
Liu said that in light of the blockage of the first two groups of troops into Beijing, the third military unit was deployed in early June. This time, they received high-level orders to kill due to “turmoil in Beijing.” The soldiers were ordered to “kill without hesitation” if there was any blockage or obstruction. As a result, these soldiers killed ruthlessly.
Students on Tiananmen Square were shot execution style
Liu described that the soldiers “shot in execution style.” From the evening of June 3 to the dawn of June 4, 1989, the troops confronted students and civilians. They not only shot those they faced, but also shot others in the back. The students had already left Tiananmen Square, but they were still shot from behind while retreating.
Liu recalled that even more disgusting was that the troops even shot at students and civilians who had fallen to the ground in the chaos.
As usual, the CCP concealed the truth so the number of deaths in the June Fourth Tiananmen Massacre could not be established. However, according to declassified documents from the United States and the United Kingdom, the CCP caused at least 10,000 civilian deaths in this so-called crackdown.
On June 5, 1989, the British ambassador to China, Sir Alan Donald, sent a telegram to the United Kingdom to report on the CCP’s brutal crackdown on students.
Alan revealed that the first unit of soldiers from the Shenyang Military Region that entered Tiananmen Square separated the students from the civilians.
“Students understood they were given one hour to leave the square, but after five minutes APCs [armored personnel carriers] attacked.”
“Students linked arms but were mowed down, including soldiers. APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make “pie” and the remains were collected by bulldozers. The remains were incinerated and then hosed down drains.”
“Four wounded girl students begged for their lives but were bayoneted,” Sir Alan wrote in his telegram.
Translated by Chua BC and edited by Angela
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