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> 10,000 people were killed in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and many of them were deliberately squished into mush by tanks Be aware that that is the highest end o
by sho 9y ago
> 10,000 people were killed in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and many of them were deliberately squished into mush by tanks
Be aware that that is the highest end of a very contested range of estimates. While I by no means believe the governmental estimate of "0-300", 10,000 is so huge I personally find it hard to believe.
As always the truth is probably somewhere in between. I personally believe the number was probably between 500 and 1,000 dead. It was a brutal repression of a student protest, not an extermination.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoIt could be in between, it could be much worse. There was no way in estimating very accurately, so we shouldn’t just take the middle as the truth. Besides, most of the casualties occurred outside of the square when the city basically rioted, and it was in the government’s interest not to count bodies.
- sho 9y ago> it was in the government’s interest not to count bodies Absolutely. So long as we remember it's in other party's interests to boost the body count, too. You're right though - we'll never know.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoYes, but the government could have answered the question with a real investigation at the time, while the other parties could not. At any rate, whenever you use the military to do what riot police should be doing instead (China lacked non-lethal riot suppression capabilities at the time), it is going to be very messy.