1989 Tiananmen Square protests brand of authoritarianism and is prominently discussed in Hong Kong's political circles, often in relation to democratic reform in Hong Kong and the territory's relationship with Beijing. Academic studies indicate that those who supported the rehabilitation of the Tiananmen Square movement had a tendency to support democratization in the territory as well as the election of pro-democracy parties. There was a significant impact on the Chinese economy after the incident. The ramifications of the Tiananmen Square protests led to changes in China's economic direction, and these reverberated not only internationally, but also domestically from within the Chinese government themselves. These
Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident practitioners, but were not scrutinised for the methods they used. This resulted in the widespread use of torture, sometimes resulting in death. Tiananmen Square was one of the main venues where Falun Gong practitioners gathered to protest the persecution, usually by raising banners in defence of the group, or stage peaceful meditation sit-ins. Ian Johnson of the "Wall Street Journal" estimated that by 25 April 2000, more than 30,000 practitioners had been arrested for attempting to demonstrate in Beijing, most of them in or on the way to Tiananmen Square. Seven hundred Falun Gong followers were arrested during a demonstration