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,
Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters Headquarters. Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters established a variety of measures to protect students protesting in Tiananmen Square. Their first was the installation of a broadcasting system for establishing authority and issuing instructions to protestors. The system was used for a final time on June 3 to report the first acts of violence occurring on the square’s surrounding streets, and to prompt the Hunger Strikers to remain passive. The system’s use quickly expanded beyond its original purpose. In his memoir, Li Lu notes that early on June 3 the system was used to pacify agitated students by playing Beethoven, with the