this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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Almost all of the violence happened away from the students and no one was killed in the square itself. There were other incidents around the city done by workers who were armed with guns and took a joyride in an APC. There were multiple protests being done by multiple groups without unity in their demands. To even unify the students with as broad of a demand as democracy is disingenuous. They were fighting one another for access to loudspeakers.
The students broadly represented the class of people favored by the 70s economic liberalization reforms. The workers were on the bad end of the reforms and were largely calling for a return of earlier, Maoist policies. It would be more accurate to say the students were more or less calling for increased liberalization, i.e., capitalism.
From what i understand the vast, overwhelming majority of students were protesting against the Dengist reforms.
About 300 people died, including PLA soldiers, in street fighting blocks away from the square, which started when unarmed pla soldiers were attacked with firebombs in their trucks and apcs and burned alive.
The students in the square left when ordered with little if any violence. The whole narrative around the June 4th incident is unalloyed propaganda and revisionist history.