Police Cordon Off Square in Beijing, Deter Protests : China: But on the day to mourn the dead, a few brave acts recall those killed in last year’s crackdown.

Strict security deterred any major protests Thursday on the traditional day to mourn the dead, but with tiny acts of individual bravery, some Beijing residents honored those killed in last June’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

Police sealed off the main part of Tian An Men Square throughout the day and late into the evening, while officially sponsored events were taking place at what was the center of last year’s massive protests.

Dissidents abroad and some students in Beijing had called for quiet protest walks in the square on this day of the Qingming Festival. Traditionally, Chinese sweep the graves of deceased relatives. The idea of the walks was to avoid slogans, banners and organized groups that would lead to certain arrest.

Authorities responded by issuing private warnings against visiting the square, and with a show of force Thursday that included small bands of helmeted police armed with rifles who cruised the perimeter of the square and other parts of the city on three-wheel motorcycles. Red fire trucks fitted with water cannon were positioned near the square.

Some leaflets had been circulated on Beijing campuses calling for people to wear traditional mourning symbols, white flowers or black armbands. The authorities had made it clear that anyone doing so was likely to be arrested, and such displays were not in evidence.

But at one point Thursday afternoon, on a sidewalk outside police lines at the edge of Tian An Men Square, several dozen round pieces of white paper with diamond-shaped holes in the middle fluttered in the wind.

“White flowers,” a student standing nearby said in English, addressing no one in particular.

Crowded on the sidewalk were travelers from other parts of China, some Beijing residents, uniformed police, plainclothes police who made no attempt to hide their identity and a scattering of young people who looked as if they might be engaged in quiet protest walks.

Apparently none of the police saw who it was that released the paper flowers, and no immediate arrests were made. But earlier in the day, a young man approached a foreigner at the edge of the square and asked, “Are you a journalist?”

“Yes,” the foreigner replied. “Are you a student?”

The young man said he was. At that point a policeman ordered the foreigner to move along and demanded the student’s identity papers. The policeman then marched the student into the nearby Revolutionary History Museum, where security forces have been stationed since last June’s crackdown.

Thursday afternoon, another student greeted several foreigners in English. At the time, an organized group of Young Pioneers, the Chinese version of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, were taking part in an officially sanctioned ceremony.

“They are Young Pioneers; only they can go into the square,” the student said, his eyes saying more than his words.

When the foreigner identified himself as a journalist, the student said, “Oh, it is very dangerous,” and went on his way.

The people brave enough to go to the square with the intent of showing even a hint of protest were few.

A young teacher explained why he believes it was not possible to put on a large protest at the square this spring, even a quiet one without slogans or banners.

“It’s because we’ve seen blood,” he said. “We’ve seen that there’s no limit to what this government will do to stop us.”