Reactions to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests empathy for the events. North Korea, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, among others, supported the Chinese government and denounced the protests. Overseas Chinese students demonstrated in many cities in Europe, America, the Middle East, and Asia against the Chinese government. Some Chinese citizens deplored the incident at Tiananmen Square, and believed that the massacre of peaceful protesters had been done with such brutal force as to prevent any further protests by citizens. In the immediate aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests the Communist Party of China maintained its original condemnation of the student demonstrations (see April 26 Editorial) and characterised
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