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BEIJING : China stepped up security in central Beijing Wednesday 65 days ahead of the Olympics as relatives of victims marked the 19th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests here.
The Tiananmen Massacre is a taboo subject in China and the country's state-controlled media was silent on the anniversary despite calls from Washington for Beijing to take advantage of the upcoming Olympics to come clean on the crackdown.
Police and paramilitary troops were out in force while plain-clothes officers with video cameras monitored central Tiananmen Square, scene of pro-democracy protests that triggered a crackdown which left hundreds, possible thousands dead.
Most people on the square appeared to be domestic tourists oblivious to the significance of the anniversary, and no unusual incidents were reported, despite the heavy security presence.
However, China's state security apparatus kept dissidents under observation and prevented them from marking the anniversary, according to reports.
Chen Xi, a dissident based in the southwestern city of Guiyang, was prevented from boarding a flight to Beijing, where he had intended to take part in memorial activities, Reporters Without Borders said.
However, the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of victims of the crackdown, paid their respects in private to their loved ones and vowed never to let the memories of the crackdown fade.
They held small memorial ceremonies on the eve of the anniversary at two downtown areas close to Tiananmen Square.
Several members also held a service on Wednesday at a Beijing cemetery where some victims are buried.
"As time passes, this kind of gathering becomes even more significant," said Ding Zilin, a former university professor who set up the group after her teenage son was killed during the crackdown.
"Not just to remember the dead but also to look ahead to the future."
China's communist party has never offered a full accounting of the crackdown on the night of June 3-4, when troops and tanks gunned down students and other protestors who had been demonstrating peacefully in the square for weeks.
The government branded the pro-democracy protests a counter-revolutionary rebellion and hunted down ringleaders, while jailing hundreds of suspects.
On the eve of the anniversary Washington urged China to come clean on the incident and release prisoners taken during the protests.
"The time for the Chinese government to provide the fullest possible public accounting of the thousands killed, detained, or missing in the massacre that followed the protests is long overdue," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
However China's foreign ministry earlier Tuesday said that China would not revise its verdict on the protests after calls to stop labelling the student movement a "counter-revolutionary rebellion."
This week New York-based Human Rights Watch urged China to release around 130 prisoners it said were still be held for their part in the Tiananmen protests.
- AFP /ls
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