Tiananmen Square is used for parades, lies between the Tian'anmen and the square. Trees line the east and west edges of the Square, but the square itself is open, with neither trees nor benches. The square is lit with large lamp posts which are fitted with video cameras. It is heavily monitored by uniformed and plain-clothes police officers. Tiananmen Square has been the site of a number of political events and student protests. Perhaps the most notable events are protests during the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the proclamation of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949,
Instances of Insubordination in the PLA during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. began shooting at protesters out of frustration. After firing shots into the air, in response to brick and bottle throwing by the crowd, the troops became enraged and fired into the crowd. According to him: "No one said to shoot, but it was, like, We're going to teach them a lesson, and then those soldiers unleashed their fury, You pulled the trigger and bang, bang, bang, it was like rain, the noise shaking the heavens." The high-rise apartment blocks along Changan Boulevard, leading to Tiananmen Square, were subjected to indiscriminate gunfire from the troops below. Documentary evidence of the Tiananmen