1989 Tiananmen Square protests 1989 Tiananmen Square protests The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident (Chinese: , "liùsì shìjiàn"), were student-led demonstrations in Beijing (the capital of the People's Republic of China) in 1989. More broadly, it refers to the popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests during that period, sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement (Chinese: , "bājiǔ mínyùn"). The protests were forcibly suppressed after Chinese Premier Li Peng declared martial law. In what became known in the West as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, troops with automatic rifles and tanks fired at the demonstrators
1989 Tiananmen Square protests at universities in other cities, with many students traveling to Beijing to join the demonstration. Generally, the demonstration at Tiananmen Square was well ordered, with daily marches of students from various Beijing-area colleges displaying their solidarity with the class boycott and with the demands of the protest. The students sang "The Internationale", the world socialist anthem, on their way to, and at, the square. Afraid that the movement would spin out of control, Deng Xiaoping asked that the Square be cleared for Gorbachev's visit. Executing Deng's request, Zhao again used a soft approach, and directed his subordinates to coordinate negotiations