BEIJING : Tense Week in China
The Chinese capital will pass a tense week as Communist authorities brace for the second anniversary of the bloody crackdown that ended the Tian An Men Square pro-democracy demonstrations.
While Beijing has returned to a superficial normalcy, smoldering resentment over the 1989 massacre lies just below the surface among wide segments of the city’s population.
The nervousness of authorities is revealed by late-night roadblocks at scattered points around Beijing. Drivers out much past midnight often are rudely questioned by groups of uniformed and plainclothes police. Monday night, exactly two years after the army started shooting its way into the city, is likely to be the high point of tension.
Two years of repression and propaganda has changed few minds, commented a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. But it seems to have succeeded, he said, in making university students “feel that it’s not possible for them to do anything.”
WEEK IN REVIEW: Page 5
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