‘A taste of freedom in China’: Tiananmen Square crackdown commemorated in New York
- Hundreds gather at the Cathedral of St John’s the Divine in Manhattan in tribute to the pro-democracy protests 30 years ago
- ‘For many of us, this was the first and only time that we tasted freedom in China's sphere,’ Zhou Fengsuo, a protest leader, says
Hundreds gathered in a New York cathedral on Tuesday to pay tribute to the protesters that were brutally suppressed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown three decades ago, kick-starting commemoration of its approaching anniversary in the United States.
At the Cathedral of St John the Divine near Columbia University, around 300 people assembled for an evening of poetry, music and speeches to celebrate the courage - and mourn the sacrifice - of students who led a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations that swept China in 1989.
“We're here because 30 years ago, millions of Chinese protested for change, unified as a hope for freedom and democracy,” said Zhou Fengsuo, a student leader of the movement who now lives in exile in the US.
“For many of us, this was the first and only time that we tasted freedom in China's sphere,” he said, standing on a makeshift stage at the heart of the cathedral, surrounded by audience on three sides.
The peaceful demonstrations led by Zhou and others occupied Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for weeks before Chinese troops, backed by tanks, opened fire on protesters on the eve of June 4. Estimates of the dead ranged from the hundreds into the thousands.