Lights Go Out--Then the Shooting Starts

At 1 a.m. today, the “Goddess of Democracy,” the Chinese students’ version of the Statue of Liberty, was still looking down on the throngs at Tian An Men Square. Floodlights still lit up the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the landmark in the center of the huge open space.

Suddenly, at 1:45 a.m., the lights were shut off and the firing started.

In the darkness, those at Tian An Men could hear the sound of rubber on pavement, of trucks and tanks moving into position. The tension among the tens of thousands of Chinese on the square was unbelievable.

Then there were shots, more shots and more again.

Young Chinese moved as fast as they could, frenetically in all directions, as if they did not know where or how to escape.

Within five minutes, troops from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army began moving into the north end of Tian An Men Square. As they did, the panic in the crowd found a direction.

People were fleeing east towards the main boulevard out of the square. They fled by foot, on bicycles, by pedicab. It was not just the young: The panicked crowd included some middle-aged and elderly people, too.

“They’re firing at children,” one man shouted.

Some people ran into the Forbidden City, the old Imperial Palace complex north of the square.

Foreign correspondents and other foreign witnesses found that some Chinese, in their haste and fury, reached back into their childhoods for the worst epithets they knew.

“KMT fascists!” they shouted at the People’s Liberation Army troops. “KMT fascists!” They were referring to the Kuomintang, the Nationalist Party of Chiang Kai-shek, once portrayed to young children in the People’s Republic of China as the most evil force in the world.

Chant Urges Strike

“ Ba gong, ba gong ,” others in the crowd chanted. It is the Chinese expression for workers and students to “Strike, strike.” It was a curious gesture: At that moment, many in the crowd seemed to be wondering whether they would ever get back alive to their factories and universities.

Amid the confusion, a tricycle rickshaw went by, being pedaled furiously towards an ambulance. On the back of it lay a man, apparently shot to death.

At 2:30 a.m., the troops at the square were firing once again at demonstrators. Those remaining in the square hit the pavement.

Within an hour, the troops opened fire once again. Troops had surrounded the square by 3:15 a.m., and by about 3:30 a.m. they had taken control of it.

According to a foreign eyewitness, between 3:15 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., a line of hundreds of troops at the northeast corner of the square crouched and shot at the crowd. An American journalist who witnessed the firing saw half a dozen people apparently shot to death.

“You have to give up all hope,” students said over their loudspeaker in the square about 4 a.m., the Associated Press reported. “You have to give your life to the movement.”

Later, weeping students holding each other’s hands began filing out.

“There is no more time. We can’t let any more blood flow,” a student announced over their loudspeaker. “We must leave.”

A little later, troops cleared the center of the square around the Monument to the People’s Heroes. Foreign witnesses said the “Goddess of Democracy” statue was still standing at 5 a.m. It was reportedly knocked down later.

Between 5:30 and 5:40 a.m., a military convoy of about 100 vehicles, including 10 tanks with machine guns mounted on top, about 30 armored personnel carriers and 60 other vehicles coming from the east side of Beijing moved west along Changan Avenue past the Beijing Hotel toward the square.

As the convoy passed the hotel, shots were fired every 10 or 15 seconds at bystanders along the streets. The facade of the hotel was hit by the gunfire. About 200 young Chinese were in one group in front of the hotel, and perhaps 2,000 Chinese civilians were standing on the south side of Changan Avenue outside of the troop cordon.

This automatic-weapons fire along the main boulevard running east from the square was only a short distance from other tourist hotels and directly next to the Jianguomenwai compound where foreign diplomats and journalists live.

For several minutes around 5:45 a.m., heavy automatic rifle fire could be heard coming from the direction of the square.

The chaos extended beyond the shooting:

-- A “kamikaze” civilian bus rushed into the troops at Tian An Men Square. It burst into flames, and the driver and other occupants apparently were killed.

-- One of the first armored personnel carriers into Tian An Men Square was surrounded by the crowd, which began throwing burning objects into it, setting it afire. The three soldiers inside apparently managed to escape.

-- An armored personnel carrier on Changan Avenue suddenly turned around and crushed a bicyclist.

Chinese who could reach safety told eyewitnesses that they were shocked and wanted outside help.