Per 
Item #: SCP-1989
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: All material of SCP-1989-J is to be incinerated and disposed of immediately. Any personal seen with any material relating to SCP-1989-J are to be terminated on sight. Information on SCP-1989-J may only be accessed with approval from members of the O5.
Description: █The ████████ protests, commonly known in mainland [DATA EXPUNGED] as the ████████ Incident, were student-led demonstrations in [DATA EXPUNGED] (the capital of the People's Republic of [DATA EXPUNGED]) for the establishment of basic human and press rights and against the Communist-led [REDACTED] government in mid-1989. More broadly, it refers to the popular national movement inspired by the [DATA EXPUNGED] protests during that period, sometimes called the ████████ [DATA EXPUNGED]. The protests were forcibly suppressed after [REDACTED] declared martial law. In what became known as the ████████████, troops with assault rifles and tanks fired at the demonstrators trying to block the military's advance towards ████████. The number of civilian deaths was internally estimated by the [REDACTED] to be near or above 10,000.[2][5][a]
Set against a backdrop of rapid economic development and social changes in [REDACTED], the protests reflected anxieties about the country's future in the popular consciousness and among the political elite. The reforms of the 1980s had led to a nascent market economy which benefited some people but seriously disaffected others, and the one-party political system also faced a challenge of legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy,[6] and restrictions on political participation. The students called for democracy, greater accountability, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, although they were highly disorganized and their goals varied. At the height of the protests, about 1 million people assembled in the Square.[9]
As the protests developed, the authorities veered back and forth between conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership.[10] By May, a student-led hunger strike galvanized support for the demonstrators around the country, and the protests spread to some 400 cities.[11] Ultimately, [REDACTED] paramount leader [DATA EXPUNGED] and other [REDACTED] Party elders believed the protests to be a political threat and resolved to use force.[12][13] The State Council declared martial law on May 20 and mobilized as many as 300,000 troops to [REDACTED].[11] The troops suppressed the protests by firing at demonstrators with automatic weapons, killing multiple protesters and leading to mass civil unrest in the days following.
The international community, human rights organizations, and political analysts condemned the [DATA EXPUNGED] government for the massacre. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on [REDACTED].[14] The [DATA EXPUNGED] government made widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters, suppressed other protests around [REDACTED], expelled foreign journalists, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press, strengthened the police and internal security forces, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests.[15] More broadly, the suppression temporarily halted the policies of liberalization in the 1980s. Considered a watershed event, the protests also set the limits on political expression in [REDACTED] well into the 21st century. Its memory is widely associated with questioning the legitimacy of [DATA EXPUNGED] Party rule and remains one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in [REDACTED].[16][17]
