Beijing silent while security is tight around the anniversary of Tiananmen Square | News from the world

Security forces are deployed on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, 30 years after a deadly crackdown on student demonstrators in the city that marked one of the darkest chapters in the country's history.

Plainclothes and uniformed police officers patrolled the perimeter of the square, where crowds of tourists were waiting for security personnel to scan their identity cards. An armored police vehicle was parked in a street leading to the square. Asked about the additional checks, a police officer said, "Today's day is a bit special."

Foreign journalists were not allowed to enter the square and plainclothes police prevented journalists from taking pictures by opening umbrellas in front of them. Major foreign news websites that had not yet been blocked in China, including CNN, Reuters and Bloomberg, were not consulted on Tuesday.

From June 3 to the morning of June 4, 1989, the Chinese government deployed the army to crack down on nearly two months of student-led demonstrations calling for political reforms.

Tanks and troops converged on Tiananmen Square, killing and sometimes crushing civilians. Estimates of the number of victims range from a few hundred to 3,000. A secret British diplomatic cable published in 2017 estimates the figure at least 10,000.

China has issued few statements about the Tiananmen crackdown, largely omitted from history books. On Tuesday, the official media made no mention of this anniversary. Rather, they published articles about the promotion of trash sorting by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, an environmental campaign and calls to "remember the mission" of the Chinese Communist Party.

When pushed to comment, officials justify the use of force by the government as necessary for the stability and economic development of the country. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Sunday defended the crackdown as a "correct" policy to end the "political turbulence" of the time.

On Monday, the government's Global Times tabloid hailed the government's response, calling it "vaccination" for Chinese society, offering "immunity from any major political unrest in the future."

Before the anniversary, other countries called on China to recognize its use of violence against unarmed citizens. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that China should "make public all the accounts of those who were killed or those who disappeared". China on Tuesday described the remarks as "an affront to the Chinese people".

Federica Mogherini, EU foreign policy chief, reiterated the 1989 European Council declaration, describing the government's actions as a "brutal repression". She called on the authorities to respect the legal rights of those detained as part of the 1989 protests as well as those who attempted to commemorate them.

Observers say the crackdown on Tiananmen in 1989 was a turning point for the country, signaling the tendency of Chinese leaders to turn to authoritarianism. In the spring of 1989, after years of increased openness, the authorities were confronted with student movements in more than 300 cities, calling for reforms, the end of government corruption, a free press and other requirements.

After weeks of division in senior leadership, conservative voices in the government triumphed, opting for strength to clear the center of the movement, protests in Tiananmen Square. Thousands of people were arrested after the crackdown and the government launched a propaganda campaign aimed at rephrasing the episode as a "successful crackdown on a counterrevolutionary rebellion".

Since then, party leadership has focused on expanding and opening up its economy, while reducing the space available to civil society. After Xi came to power in 2012, Chinese human rights activists and advocates were subjected to even greater pressure and censorship intensified.

On the approach of June 4, dozens of activists were arrested and censorship seems to have intensified. Restrictions were imposed on "mothers of Tiananmen", a group of elderly women whose sons were killed. Many activists based in China are "traveled" outside their cities and closely watched by observers.

On Tuesday, the search terms "Tiananmen" and "6.4.30" with reference to the 30-year-old's birthday, were blocked on the Weibo microblog. On WeChat, users can not change their user name.

Activists in China said they planned to fast for the day, without being able to commemorate the event publicly or with others. "Even though we are scattered … we are united and united," said one of the organizers, based in China, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

Gao Yu, a reporter who attended the protests in Beijing in 1989, said she would be closely monitored all day by security. "I can only remember [the students] in my heart, she said.

In neighboring Hong Kong, activists commemorate this event with an annual candlelight vigil that attracts around 180,000 people. "All of China is silenced, and we have a window or speaker in Hong Kong to tell the world what happened," said Lee Cheuk-yan, a former lawmaker who was in Beijing at the moment of repression.

"I heard the shots and saw the tanks roll inside, the rickshaws taking along wounded," said Lee, a union organizer in 1989. "When I got back from Beijing there was At 20, people have told me the world the truth. "

Tuesday, the activity around Tiananmen Square seemed normal. Tourists wearing umbrellas to block the sun headed for the main square. Groups of students followed their teachers in neat rows. Souvenir shops were open and sold commemorative plaques depicting Mao Zedong's portrait.

Despite censorship, some Chinese citizens have found ways to mark the day by publishing poems, images or songs. A user posted a photo of himself standing in front of a portrait of Mao, who faces Tiananmen Square early in the morning. "The sweeping of the graves," he wrote, referring to the Chinese tradition of honoring the dead.

Another Chinese writer, Lu Xun, published an essay in 1933 recalling a group of young writers and activists who had already been killed by government forces.

Users have posted the quote: "The night is long, the road is so long. It is better that I forget, not to mention it. But I know that even if it was not for me, there would always be someone who would remember them. "