In May 1989, hundreds of thousands of Chinese college students gathered in downtown Beijing to protest repression by the Communist government. On June 4th, Chinese military and police forces stormed into Tiananmen square, firing indiscriminately at the protesters. Those journalists present estimate the death total at more than 300 and say that 10,000 people were arrested. The incident drew sharp criticism from both the United States and Soviet Union. The Tiananmen square protest and attack led to a period of repression in China that halted all liberalization attempts and established restrictions on free speech which are still in place today.
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