Tiananmen Mothers – human rights defenders
8 May 2008, 12:05PM
© AP/Elizabeth Dalziel
The Tiananmen Mothers are fighting for justice for those killed and injured in an attack on peaceful protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square almost two decades ago.
The group has about 130 members, mostly women, whose children or close relatives were killed or injured during the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
China's government continues to stifle public debate about Tiananmen, and the issue has been banned from school textbooks, magazines, newspapers and the Internet.
Suppression of the Internet and media helps to shield human rights abuses from the public's glaze.
The Tiananmen Mothers must be allowed freedom of expression, association and assembly without fear of reprisal. Sign our postcard petition.
Tanks and infantry sent in
The Tiananmen Square protests were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals and labour activists. The demonstrations centred on Tiananmen Square, but large protests occurred in cities throughout China.
On the night of 3 June 1989 and the following morning, army tanks and the infantry were sent in to crush the protest. Estimates of civilian deaths vary from the 23 recorded by the Communist Party of China to 2,600 according to the Chinese Red Cross. Between 7,000 and 10,000 people were injured.
Today, there are still people in jail in China in connection with the protests.
Under surveillance
The Tiananmen Mothers was set up by retired university professor Ding Zilin, whose 17-year-old son Jiang Jielian was killed in the protests. The group have the names of more than 180 people who were killed and at least 70 who were injured at Tiananmen.
They regularly petition the government to allow the families who those who died to mourn in public and to end the persecution of the survivors and their families.
They are also asking for an independent investigation and for those still in jail to be released. We support their calls.
Every year around the anniversary of the crackdown the group is placed under police surveillance, including types of house arrest. Encouragingly there are signs recently that these controls are being relaxed.
We welcome these developments, but authorities must allow a full public debate about what happened – an important step towards justice for those who died or were injured at Tiananmen Square, as well as their families.
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