Exclusive: Tiananmen Victims’ Families Banned from Visiting Graves on Anniversary

89-year-old mother of student who died in the 1989 massacre said police have been watching her for days.

By Gu Yuan for RFA Mandarin

Days before the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, several relatives of victims of the crackdown learned they would be forbidden this year from visiting their graves, they told Radio Free Asia.

Members of the Tiananmen Mothers group that represents the families said they received notice from the Beijing Municipal Security Bureau that for the first time in more than 30 years, they will not be permitted on the premises of Wanan Cemetery, the final resting place of many of the victims, nor would they be allowed to hold their annual post-funerary rites ceremonies.

“They won’t let us go to Wanan Cemetery now, nor will they let us read sacrificial texts or eulogies,” Zhang Xianling, a member of Tiananmen Mothers, told RFA Tuesday. “These actions, which used to be routine, are no longer permitted. Now we aren’t even allowed to go there, which is something that has never happened before.”

The group penned a letter in protest urging authorities to lift the ban on their annual cemetery visitation, calling it “unreasonable.”

Hundreds, if not thousands, died during the June 4, 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, and Beijing has expunged the incident from the public record.

Annual tradition

For decades, members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have traveled to Wan’an Cemetery every June 4th under police escort to pay their respects and Zhang had planned to do the same this year, but police have been stationed near her home since May 28, she said.

“There are two security guards at the community entrance, two police officers downstairs, and two cars—one police car and one civilian police car,” said Zhang. “The precautions are so strict, not to mention phone calls from foreign journalists.”

On Tuesday, the chief of police accompanied the guards, and Zhang laughed at all the attention she was getting, she said.

“So, I told them, ‘Since the chief is here, why don’t you accompany me out to have some fun?,’” she said, with a hint of sarcasm. “So he drove me to the Olympic Forest Park for a stroll.”

Zhang, 89, is the mother of Wang Nan, who was a 19-year-old student at Beijing’s Yuetan High School when he was shot dead by martial law troops in the wee hours of June 4 at an intersection north of the Great Hall of the People, according to a record of victims curated by the non-government group, Human Rights in China. The bullet entered the left side of his forehead and came out behind his left ear, leaving a bullet hole at the back of the motorcycle helmet he was wearing.

Troops buried Wang Nan’s body with others in a shallow grave west of Tiananmen Gate but heavy rains washed the soil away a few days later. His body was taken to a hospital morgue and was initially mistaken as that of a soldier as he’d recently returned from military training and was wearing an old military uniform. His family was only able to recover his body days later, and his cremated remains were interred at Wanan Cemetery.

Truth demanded

The Tiananmen Mothers group has consistently demanded the disclosure of the truth about June 4th, accountability, and compensation for the families of the victims. Every year in the run up to June 4th, members of the Tiananmen Mothers are subject to varying degrees of surveillance, and their contact with the outside world and daily travel are restricted.

Banning the Tiananmen mothers from performing their annual post-funerary rites is exceptionally cruel, a Beijing dissident identifying only by his surname Wu, told RFA.

“Their loved ones were shot dead for no reason, but at least they were still able to mourn them,” he said. “It has been over 30 years, and now even their right to go to the cemetery has been stripped away. This is all so sudden.”

Edited by Li Nuo in Mandarin and Eugene Whong in English.