Advertisement

China In Turmoil : FEAR AND MOURNING ON CAMPUSES

Share

As violence between protesters and People’s Liberation Army troops continued in Beijing, students at Beijing University, seat of the pro-democracy movement, held memorial vigils on the sprawling campus. Troops reportedly surrounded Beijing Teachers University and another campus. Although there were no reports of any raids, students fear arrests may be near. In other developments:

Army sends at least 50 more tanks and 150 more armored personnel carriers into Tian An Men Square, site of two days of bloodshed, adding to the 12 tanks and 50 armored personnel carriers already there.

As tanks and personnel carriers moved in between midnight and dawn today, Beijing residents lying in ambush along Changan Avenue hurled half a dozen firebombs at them.

Advertisement

Soldiers manned barricades at all entrances to square, which is also site of Mao Tse-tung’s tomb and Great Hall of the People.

Sunday morning, one foreign witness saw bodies of at least 50 dead on pavement when troops near Beijing Hotel fired four volleys of AK-47 rifle fire into youthful throngs.

In afternoon incident, witnesses reported seeing troops gun down at least 20 people on Tian An Men Square after troops and tanks opened fire on gathering crowd.

As night fell, protesters gathered on Xidan Street west of Tian An Men Square to set abandoned army trucks ablaze.

Advertisement