Tiananmen Incident Tiananmen Incident The Tiananmen Incident took place on 5 April 1976, at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The incident occurred on the traditional day of mourning, the Qingming Festival, after the Nanjing Incident, and was triggered by the death of Premier Zhou Enlai earlier that year. Some people strongly disapproved of the removal of the displays of mourning, and began gathering in the Square to protest against the central authorities, then largely under the auspices of the Gang of Four, who ordered the Square to be cleared. The event was labeled as counterrevolutionary immediately after its occurrence by the Communist
Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters Notably, a Hong Kong concert raised one million US dollars for the students. However, since the various student organizations within the square maintained their own donation funds, accountability waned. For example, the Beijing Students’ Autonomous Federation withheld one million RMB in donations when the Hunger Strike Committee took back control of the Square on May 13. Upon learning of these funds, the CCP’s official stance was that donations came from reactionary forces and were used by the students in general to procure communication equipment and illegal arms. Intent on increasing support for the movement, Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters established communication