BEIJING — Activists in China are taking to social media to urge the public to wear black on the 24th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown on protesters who had camped out for weeks on Tiananmen Square.
The crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989, killed hundreds, possibly more. The Chinese government has never fully disclosed what happened on that day and branded the protests a "counterrevolutionary riot." It remains a taboo topic inside the country, but the growing use of Twitter-like sites known as Weibo and other social media — although largely censored — has made it difficult for authorities to control all information about the Tiananmen crackdown.
Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said he had been appealing online for people to wear black T-shirts on Tuesday or light a candle at home on Monday evening to remember the event.
"Thanks to the role of Weibo, there are now more people than any other time in the past 24 years that have come to know and think about the incident," he said.
While protests in mainland China are off-limits, tens of thousands have gathered to mark the anniversary in past years in Hong Kong's Victoria Park. The territory — returned by the British in 1997 — operates under a separate political system that promises freedom of speech and other Western-style civil liberties.
"When the spreading of information gains momentum, sooner or later, one day a torch will be relayed from Victoria Park in Hong Kong to Tiananmen Square in Beijing," Hu said.
Because of restrictions placed on him as an activist, Hu will be unable to leave his home to mark the anniversary. He said controls placed on him for this year's event — the first since Xi Jinping became leader — were tighter than before.