Washington Tiananmen vigil attracts first-timers for 30th anniversary
- Biggest turnout in years for candlelight commemoration outside Chinese embassy
- For many, it is the first time they have spoken of the events of June 4, 1989
For 30 years, Maria has been haunted by what she saw in the small hours of June 4, 1989, as she hid behind a heavy metal gate near Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
She was in Beijing on a work trip at the time, and was curious about the student-led pro-democracy movement that had swept her country.
Maria, then 25, was visiting the protesters when word spread that the army’s tanks had arrived and soldiers were firing on the demonstrators. She then ran into a small building on Nanchizi Street, where she hid throughout the night along with dozens of others.
“I saw Beijing residents carrying injured students on flatbed trolleys, their white shirts soaked with blood,” she said. “I was terrified, and couldn’t stop shaking.”
On top of those memories, the 55-year-old has also long been tormented by a crushing guilt, for not being able to pay tribute to the hundreds – possibly more than 1,000 – killed in the bloody crackdown, until this year.
Maria joined more than a hundred others on Saturday to commemorate the approaching 30th anniversary of the bloodshed with a candlelight vigil in the rose garden outside the Chinese embassy in Washington.
