Reactions to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests having occurred in Tiananmen Square itself. Yuan Mu portrayed the crackdown as a response to "a counterrevolutionary rebellion in the early hours of the morning of June 3." In August, 1989, the Chinese government released its complete, official account of the Tiananmen protests, "The Truth About the Beijing Turmoil". The narrative presented in "The Truth About the Beijing Turmoil" differs significantly from the accounts of student leaders and foreign journalists, many of which are banned in China. On the origins of the protest the book states: This contradicts the statements of student leaders, who emphasised the spontaneous nature of their
Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident verification about the victims" raised questions about whether authorities had advanced knowledge of the self-immolation. Police were on the scene of the self-immolation within 90 seconds carrying numerous pieces of firefighting equipment. A European journalist was quoted as saying "I have never seen policemen patrolling on Tiananmen Square carrying fire extinguishers. How come they all showed up today? The location of the incident is at least 20 minutes roundtrip from the nearest building – the People's Great Hall." John Gittings of "The Guardian" stated, however, that it was common practice in many countries for police camera operators to be on