New | Family of reformist leader Zhao Ziyang vows to keep pressing for his exoneration
Family home where he spent his final years under house arrest fills with wreaths and messages of support on 12th anniversary of his death
The family of the late liberal leader Zhao Ziyang vowed to keep seeking redress for him and Beijing’s crackdown of the June 4 pro-democracy movement on the 12th anniversary of his death on Tuesday.
Many friends paid tribute to the former premier and Communist Party general secretary at his courtyard home in Beijing, where has been under heavy security since Tuesday, according to Hong Kong Cable Television.
The mourners included Du Daozheng, the 93-year-old publisher of the liberal magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu magazine, and Ding Zilin, founder of the Tiananmen Mothers organisation. Ding paid tribute alongside the organisation’s spokeswoman You Weijiea day before the anniversary to prevent being harassed by police.
“If the [crackdown on the Tiananmen movement] is not corrected, there will be no end to Zhao’s mourning,” Du was cited as saying by Hong Kong broadcaster TVB.
Zhao remained under house arrest in the courtyard home since he opposed the use of military force to end the protests in Tiananmen Square during the summer of 1989. He was last seen in public on May 19 making a tearful predawn appeal to hunger striking students to abandon their protest and return home. Martial law was declared in the city the following day.