The family of deposed Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang (
Zhao was purged and kept under house arrest for 15-and-a-half years until his death for opposing the bloody military crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protesters. But even in death, he was unfree.
PHOTO: AFP
Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police guarded the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Saturday, and kept out hundreds of people who turned up to pay their last respects to the man who had been China's premier and Communist Party chief.
Zhao's closest relatives said they had little say in the funeral that the Chinese authorities insisted on organizing and were upset by the government's interference in matters that should normally have been left up to the family.
There was a news blackout ahead of the funeral. The government censored the funeral guest list and blocked people -- including many who were invited by the family -- from attending the funeral.
Bao Tong, Zhao's closest aide, and other dissidents were banned from leaving home to attend the funeral as the government sought to keep the ceremony low-key to prevent it becoming a rallying point for those dissatisfied with the Communist Party.
Elderly protestors and ordinary citizens turned up outside the cemetery, but were turned away. Wearing white headbands, petitioners held pictures of Zhao and cried bitterly for the leader they called "a good man." Family members were not allowed to decorate the funeral hall and were forbidden from putting up traditional calligraphy scrolls of eulogies for the deceased.
"Advocating democracy and conscience, your family is proud of you. You are gone, you are free at last, but your spirit will live on forever," one couplet had said.
A family member said Zhao never regretted his decision to oppose the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement. He was purged for "supporting the turmoil and splitting the party" by taking a sympathetic stance towards the students. His last public appearance was on May 19, 1989, when he tearfully begged students to end their hunger strike.
"He never regretted his choice. He left in peace and he had no regrets," she said. "We were often angry about lots of things on his behalf, but he was always very calm."
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘EAST SHIELD’: State-run Belma said it would produce up to 6 million mines to lay along Poland’s 800km eastern border, and sell excess to nations bordering Russia and Belarus Poland has decided to start producing anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War, and plans to deploy them along its eastern border and might export them to Ukraine, the deputy defense minister said. Joining a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia, with the exception of Norway, announce plans to quit the global treaty banning such weapons, Poland wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia. “We are interested in large quantities as soon as possible,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Pawel Zalewski said. The mines would be part
RSS