Zhengzhou
In a grim reminder of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, armoured tanks were seen deployed on the streets of China amidst large-scale protests by people demanding the release of their savings frozen by banks.
The country’s Henan province has been for the past several weeks witnessing clashes between police and depositors with the latter saying they have been prevented from withdrawing their savings from banks since April this year.
Fresh videos have surfaced online in which Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA’s) tanks can be seen deployed on the streets to scare protestors. Large-scale protests are being held in the province by bank depositors over the release of their frozen funds.
As per the reports the tanks were out on the streets to protect the banks and prevent locals from reaching the banks. The episode comes in the wake of an announcement by the Henan branch of the Bank of China that savings of depositors in their branch are investment products and cannot be withdrawn.
This incident is now posing a serious question if the history is set to repeat itself.
This is a grim reminder of China’s repressive crackdown of June 4, 1989 – Tiananmen Square massacre was carried out when Chinese leaders sent in tanks and heavily armed troops to clear Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where student protesters had gathered for weeks to demand democracy and greater freedoms.
The crackdown, which killed hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed protesters, is shunned in classrooms and strictly censored in the media and online.
