(TibetanReview.net, Jun03’26) – Ahead of the 37th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre on Jun 3-4, the Chinese government has stepped up security measures against dissidents and activists across the country, reported theepochtimes.com Jun 1, citing interviews with individuals who have alleged being placed under surveillance, confined to their homes, or warned against speaking publicly about the anniversary. And according to the rights group Human Rights Watch Jun 1, China is intensifying efforts to erase the memory of that massacre while strengthening social control throughout the country.
On Jun 4, 1989, Chinese troops used tanks to violently suppressed a student-led pro-democracy movement, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries. Today, the party-state continues to remain deeply sensitive to any public remembrance of the tragedy.
New York-based advocacy group Human Rights in China released an annual commemorative statement from the Tiananmen Mothers, a group representing relatives of those killed during the massacre. The group reiterated its long-standing demands that the CCP disclose the full truth about the events, provide compensation to victims’ families, and hold those responsible accountable.
But such accountability is farthest from the mind of he Party-state. Several dissidents have said state security officers, police, and local neighborhood officials began contacting them in late May, warning them not to travel, attend gatherings, or speak with overseas media in the run-up to the anniversary. They have spoken on the condition that only their surnames would be published, out of fear of reprisal.
“Police have already been assigned to monitor me,” Liu has said. “There’s an unmarked van parked outside, and wherever I go, they follow.”
Liu has said state security officers had instructed him not to participate in gatherings related to Jun 4 and not to post information on overseas websites. He has said this year’s controls appeared to rely more heavily on direct surveillance than on the practice known among Chinese activists as “forced travel.”
That practice involved the Party-state removing dissidents, rights advocates, or former participants in the 1989 movement from their home cities under the guise of tourism, rest trips, or informal meetings, keeping them away until after the anniversary had passed.
“People who were directly involved in June 4 and are more well-known may still be taken away,” Liu has said. “Most others are simply monitored at home.”
“Two security guards are sitting in the hallway outside my apartment in shifts,” another Beijing-based dissident and activist, surnamed Chen, has said. “Even when I go out to buy something, they follow me.”
Rights advocates in other parts of China have reported receiving similar warnings, with the report mentioning examples from Hunan, Guangxi, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Shanghai and Chengdu.
In their annual commemorative statement, released by Human Rights in China on X on May 28, the Tiananmen Mothers has described the events of Jun 3–4, 1989, as a tragedy in which military forces were deployed against students and civilians participating in peaceful demonstrations. It has urged the CCP to address the legacy of the massacre through legal and peaceful means and to provide justice for victims’ families.
“For 37 years, we have endured suffering while seeking truth and accountability,” the statement has said, reiterating the group’s three core demands—disclosure of the facts, compensation for victims, and accountability for those responsible.
In their statement for the occasion, Human Rights Watch has called on foreign governments to renew efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for past grave abuses.
“By burying the past, the Chinese government is also burying respect for fundamental rights in the future,” Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, has said. “The government should cease censorship of the Tiananmen Massacre, allow commemorations, compensate the victims’ families, and free those imprisoned for pressing for accountability and justice.”