Tiananmen Square entry, visitors and their belongings are searched, a common practice at many Chinese tourist sites, although the square is somewhat unusual in that domestic visitors often have their identification documents checked and the purpose of their visit questioned. Both plain-clothes and uniformed police officers patrol the area. There are numerous fire extinguishers placed in the area to put out flames should a protester attempt self-immolation. Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (天安門, Pinyin: "Tiān'ānmén"; Wade–Giles: "Tʻien-an-mên") is a city square in the centre of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("Gate of Heavenly Peace") located to its north, separating
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