“Enhanced surveillance technology makes it much more difficult to see any mass demonstrations like the Tiananmen protests in 1989 to happen nowadays,” says Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International. Instead there has been a string of smaller “spontaneous protests” led by labour activists, students or families affected by vaccine or food scandals in recent years, he says. All language versions of Wikipedia – whose pages include details about the Tiananmen crackdown – were blocked from the Chinese internet weeks before the anniversary. Dozens have been detained or disappeared after their support for a labour movement last year. He sees a second reason why another Tiananmen-like upheaval in China is unlikely.

Source: The Nation Bangkok May 30, 2019 18:00 UTC