WORLD : Hawke Weeps Over China Violence

Prime Minister Bob Hawke burst into tears during a memorial service today as he described the brutal shooting of civilians in China by the military.

“I call on the Chinese government to withdraw its troops from deployment against unarmed civilians and to respect the will of its people,” Hawke told 1,000 people at the service in the Great Hall of the federal Parliament.

Hawke tearfully read eyewitness reports of the killings, saying anti-personnel carriers and tanks “ran backwards and forwards over the bodies of the slain until they were reduced to pulp.”

Hawke has cried openly several times in public, once during debate in Parliament on Israel and earlier this year when admitting on television that he had committed adultery. At that time he said he still loved his wife, Hazel, calling her an “incredible woman.”