Thirty years after Tiananmen, protesters' goals further away than ever


FILE PHOTO: Thousands of people take park in a candlelight vigil to mark the 27th anniversary of the crackdown of pro-democracy movement at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, at Victoria Park in Hong Kong June 4, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - Three decades after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, increased government suppression of rights activism has pushed the demonstrators' original goals further away than ever.

In April 1989, weeks before Chinese leaders ordered a military assault to clear the protesters from central Beijing, tens of thousands of students got behind seven key demands – including a free press and freedom of speech, disclosure of leaders' assets and freedom to demonstrate. 

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