Tiananmen square, revisited

9 years after being arrested for being an activist.... he's released from jail:

Tiananmen activist freed after 9 years as democracy protests renew

Audra Ang
AP

A Chinese political activist who took part in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing was released yesterday after serving nine years in prison, his mother said.

Li Hai, 50, was sentenced in 1996 on charges of divulging state secrets after he compiled lists of people imprisoned in the wave of arrests that followed the bloody June 4 crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

"He came back this morning," Li's mother, Gong Liwen, said. "It's a very happy occasion but there's still no freedom. Every time we go out, there are people watching us."

Gong's telephone was repeatedly disconnected during the interview, one of the ways activists say the government monitors them.

Hundreds, if not thousands, died when Chinese troops attacked protesters who had gathered for weeks on the square in the centre of Beijing to agitate for a more open political system and an end to corruption.

As the 15-year anniversary of the event approaches, China's government appears to be trying to prevent any public memorial by tightening their watch on political activists and relatives of people killed in the crackdown by detaining them at home and tapping their telephones.

Li was subjected to severe physical and mental abuse and spent most of his sentence in solitary confinement or under close monitoring, the New York-based Human Rights in China said.

In Hong Kong, thousands of people marched to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre.

"Chinese people will never forget this incident," said Thomas Ma, an unemployed 44-year-old. "Using guns to suppress defenceless people - you say whether it's right or not."

Many in Hong Kong were shocked when Beijing used soldiers and tanks against the unarmed activists - eight years before the then-British colony was to be handed back to China.

Demonstrations are held here every year to mark the Tiananmen anniversary but this year's protests were more highly charged because Hong Kong's own democratic aspirations were crushed last month when Beijing ruled out direct elections anytime soon.

just remember if you're on the left and you defend china and communism...this is what you defend.