10th Tiananmen Anniversary Passes With Leafleting Scuffle

The 10th anniversary of the crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square passed quietly Friday, with the exception of a brief scuffle involving a young man who threw leaflets into a crowd and was hauled away by police.

Ironically, the crudely drawn leaflets were no plea for democracy or for a reversal of Beijing’s official verdict on the 1989 massacre. The leaflets called instead for a return to full socialized welfare and an end to corruption and China’s rising income gap.

“Long live Chairman Mao! Long live socialism! Down with American imperialism!” the self-described manifesto read.

But such is the sensitivity of the government here to any untoward incidents on the anniversary that the man was chased and wrestled to the ground within seconds by eight police officers and hustled away.

Earlier, a middle-aged man who raised a white umbrella bearing slogans that included “Remember the 10th anniversary of the student movement” was whisked away by police.

The incidents were the only public reminders here of the 1989 event that stained China’s reputation in Western eyes but that has faded from memory for the majority of Chinese. Ten years ago, the square was filled with pro-democracy protesters and the tanks that ousted them, in a clash whose impact the Chinese government has since sought to minimize. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of people were killed.

For the most part, Friday was simply another workday, with people bustling in shops and offices and going about their regular business.

Tiananmen Square itself remained under renovation and walled off from public access, as it has been for the past several months. Construction workers are laboring to give the plaza--the world’s largest public square--a face lift before the People’s Republic celebrates its 50th birthday in October.

The scuffle involving the young man occurred about 4 p.m., almost directly under the big portrait of Mao Tse-tung that hangs from the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Witnesses said the man suddenly flung copies of his leaflet in the air, then ran off the sidewalk and hopped over railings to escape from police.

Authorities caught up with the man moments later on the broad Avenue of Eternal Peace that runs across the top of the square, while spectators quietly stuffed some of the leaflets into their bags.

An American visitor from New York, who happened on the event and began snapping photos, was detained by police for an hour and forced to hand over his film.

The leaflet, titled “A Manifesto to Root Out Corruption and Limit Polarization,” criticized official misconduct that “is crippling the . . . socialist economy.” It called for socialized welfare and equal educational opportunities. Otherwise, “China will have no hope.”

No mention was made of the protests of 1989. The only reference to democracy came in a handwritten addition, after a line about workers and peasants being “masters of state power.”

“Labor is sacred!” the handwritten portion read. “Democracy must be guaranteed.”