Subject: June 4th Rallies in Australia

From: <yawei>
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 14:55:16 -0500

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Editor's note:  This issue was for Australia only, however, CND members
                in Europe think it's suitable to distribute it to Europe
                for the reference of CND readers there.

=====================  Europe / Pacific Section (CND-EP) =====================
                                  June 9, 1990

                         Special Issue for Australia
                (This issue is distributed to Australia only)

---------------------------- Table of Contents ---------------------------
No. Subject                                                     # of Lines

1. Rallies around June 4th over Australia...............................30
2. Chinese Students across Australia Gethered 
   to Memory the First Anniversay of Beijing Massacre...................15
3. June 4 Monument Unveiled in South Australia
   to Memory the First Anniversay of Beijing Massacre...................20
4. Night Vigil in Canberra on June 4th..................................14
5. The Speach at the Memorial Service on the First
   Anniversary of the Beijing Massacre of 1989..........................55
6. From Australia Major Newspapers: June 4th in Australia..............130
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Rallies around June 4th over Australia
====================================================================(30 lines)
>From: [email-masked]

Thousands of Chinese students and citizens gathered in Australian major
cities on June 3-4 to mark the first anniversary of the TAM massacre last
June.

In CANBERRA, Chinese students and Australian supporters held an all-night
vigil outside the old Chinese Embassy on June 3. At June 4, they held a
candle-lit ceremony, then march to the new Chinese Embassy near Parliament
House.

In ADELAIDE, 500 Chinese students gathered in Victoria Square, the Centre
of the capital city of South Australia on June 3 to have a commemoration
rally for those who gave their lives for a democratic China last June. The
first monument dedicated to those who died in Beijing massacre as well as
to the people of the world who gave their lives for freedom and democracy
in 1989 was unveiled in the night of June 4, with a candle light
ceremony. More than thousand Chinese students and local supporters
attended the ceremony which organized by the Chinese Democracy Support
Group (SA), IFFDC (SA Branch),CAFD (SA Branch) and other Chinese student
organizations.

In SYDNEY, 7000 gathered in the Town Hall Square to observe a two-minute 
silence to mourn those killed in the pro-democracy demonstration on June 4 
last year. The IFFDC and CAFD leaders urged the predominantly young Chinese
student crowd not to forget the sacrifices made by their counterparts in
their homeland.

In MELBOURNE, on June 3, more than 1000 Chinese demonstrators rallied in
the city. In the night, Chinese students staged a peaceful protest outside
the Chinese consulate. Several speakers addressed the crowd and there was
a ceremonial burning of the Chinese flag.
==============================================================================

2. Chinese Students across Australia Gethered 
   to Memory the First Anniversay of Beijing Massacre
====================================================================(15 lines)
>From: [email-masked] (Lijian Hong)

About 10,000 Chinese students in Sydney gethered in the Town Hall of
the city to mourn the victims of last year's massacre yesterday.they
were joined by the Australian people in the same number. Meanwhile,
in other major cities in Australia, like Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide
and Canberra, hundreds of thousands Chinese held demonstrations to 
mark the first anniversary of Bijing massacre despite the threaten from
Chinese embassy here. This morning (June 4), about 100 Chinese students
and Australians held a candle light ceremony in front of Chinese new
embassy building in Canberra.A representative from Australian parliament,
shadow minister for immigration and ethnic affairs, attended the ceremony
on behalf of the MP.
==============================================================================

3. June 4 Monument Unveiled in South Australia
=====================================================================(20 lines)
>From: [email-masked] (Lijian Hong)
Source: The Age (Adelaide), June 5, 1990, reported by Peter Hughes

The Chinese Embassy tried to stop the building in Adelaide of a monument to 
commemorate the death of C to commemorate the death of Chinese students in 
Beijing a year ago. The monument was unveil last night.

Chinese diplomats, including the ambassdor, Mr Zhang Zai, have been try-
ing since April to ahve the monument project scrapped. Earlier, Mr Zahng]
asked the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra to stop the plan, but
he was told "quite firmly" that there would be no Australian Government
intervention.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday that
Mr Zhang approached the department in April to see if it could get the 
monument stopped.The Spokesman said: "We reminded the embassy quite strongly 
of the Australian commitment to freedom of expression and the right of 
people to criticise the decision of government, not only their own Government,
but also other governments".
===============================================================================

4. Night Vigil in Canberra on June 4th
===================================================================(14 lines)
>From: CND Reporter in Australia ****@***.anu.OZ.AU

  A Memorial Service was held before a night vigil started in front of old 
Chinese embassy on 3rd June. It was orgenised by ACT Branch For Special
Union of Chinese Student in Australia.
  This morning, 4th June, China Support group and above Special Union 
orgenised another Memorial Service for the death in Tiananment Square last 
year. All the participants holded a candle to mourn those innocent victims.
  There were big demonstrations in Mealbourn, Sydney, brisbane, Adelaid on
June 4th.
==============================================================================

5. The Speach at the Memorial Service on the First
   Anniversary of the Beijing Massacre of 1989
======================================================================(55 lines)
>From: CND Reporter in Australia ****@***.anu.oz.au    

                The Speach at the Memorial Service on the First
		  Anniversary of the Beijing Massacre of 1989

By a Chinese student's leader at 7:00am June 4th 1990 in Canberra

We gather here today, once again to mourn our dead.

A year ago, on the night of the third and fourth of June atragedy happened
in Beijing. It all started because students and Beijing citizens took to 
the streets to ask for reforms. They were not trying to overthrow the 
government, only to talk to it.

The movement was peaceful and orderly. In their thousands, students risked
their lives in a hunger strike. Their pleas for peaceful change were met 
with a seige by hundreds of thousands of troops and the proclamation of 
martial law, and the dictatorship planned its terrible response.

The slaughter that began a year ago last night was no accident. It was well
planned, methodical and ruthless. The dictators would not even allow us to
count our dead, young and old, students and citizens. The bullets and the 
tanks temporarily silenced open calls for demcracy.

The repression of the last year, has cost people dearly; but the dream of 
freedom has not died. The regime is still afraid of the people. That is why
the arrests continued and Beijing is still an occupied city.

Now china is in darkneess.

We cannot forget the sound of gunfire and the images of smashed bodies. No
matter what lies the propagandists tell, the massacre is always in our minds.

Early June in china should be a time of flowers but now it is a time for 
secret tears.

We are here to mourn the innocent dead who faced an army empty-handed, 
because of their longing for a better China. Although their lives were brutally
ended and countless others have been persecuted for their beliefs since then,
the cause they died for did not die with them.
They will never be forgotten.

In the darkness we hold our candles, and pray for them and hope their souls
will rest in peace. We are only a handful here today, but we respresent 
countless millions at home who are not free to mourn them in public.

We appeal to the world to remember the victims of Beijing and keep pressure
on the chinese government so that basic human rights are respected and this
kind of crime will never repeated. If only last year's tragedy in Beijing
could be the last such event in human history.

We hope that it will not be long before we can all gather in a free Tiananmen
Square, to mourn and honour all who have died for a free and democratic China.
==============================================================================

6. From Australia Major Newspapers: June 4th in Australia
====================================================================(130 lines)
>From: A CND Reader in Australia ***@***.OZ.AU

There are large gatherings in major cities in Australia yesterday to remember 
the June 4, 1989.  News with photos appeared in most Australia newspapers.  
Candle vigils are planned in most cities tonight.  Following are some articles 
extracted from two major newspapers today (June 4), "The Age" and "The 
Australian".  

---------------------------------
1> "Silent crowds mourn martyrs"
by Deborah Bogle, Stenven Wilson and Jim Della-Giacoma
(The Australian, 4 June, Front page) 

Sombre rallies to mark the June 4 massacre of Chinese students in Tienanmen 
Square last year held in Australian cities yesterday.

In Sydney, it was a silent crowd that gathered in the shadow of the Town Hall 
to remember the 1300 demonstrators crushed by tanks and cut down by bullets in 
the streets of Beijing.

About 10,000 people, almost exclusively Chinese, rallied to hear speakers 
exhort them not to forget the atrocities committed by the People's Liberation 
Army.

Some students wore white orchids or carnations in their lapels and many wore 
white armbands to symbolise the white headbands worn by their compatriots in 
Tienanmen Square last June.

A wreath of white lilies, roses and fresias - the size of a cartwheel - hung 
from the steps of the Town Hall flanked by banners.

Chinese characters and English translations echoed the slogans used by students 
of the democracy movement in Beijing last year: Give me freedom or Give Death; 
Save Our Mother China; We Want Human Rights; We Want Freedom; Not Celebration 
But Catastrophe.

A grim-faced Chinese man laid a bouquet beneath a banner that read "Down with 
the barbarian". Next to it was another with a photo and the words "Killer Li 
Peng", referring the the Chinese Premier.

A young man wearing a white shirt splattered with red paint took the microphone 
and spoke in passionate Mandarin.

He was Zeng Renjun, a Chinese student and poet, and he recited one of his own 
poems, which ended with the words: "China will not fall down in front of 
weapons and soldiers and bullets"

One young woman, a Chinese student who witnessed events in and around Tienanmen 
Square last year, spoke of the need to recall painful memories.

"My feeling is very sad ... more sad on the day than on other days," she said, 
"I think everybody here should remember the death of the 4th of June because 
last year at this time a lot of people died and a lot of people were injured.

"I saw people die 1m away from me and a lot of people injured, and I helped a 
lot of injured people to get to hospital."

Mr Bruce Bian, the co-ordinator of the Chinese Students Solidarity Campaign for 
Democracy, which organised the Sydney rally, said some students who had 
witnessed the massacre preferred to forget.

"It is difficult to recover from the massacre," he said. "They are indeed still 
very affected.  They prefer not to remember, they prefer to leave it behind 
because it's too much a disaster."

After the rally at the Town Hall, the crowd marched to the Chinese consulate in 
Surry Hills, where they held a candle-lit vigil.

In Melbourne, a Chinese flag with four skulls was spat and jumped upon outside 
the Chinese consulate at a rally of about 300 Chinese.

Organisers said they believed about a dozen Chinese government spied mixed with 
the crowd.

Mr William Tang from the Federation fro a Democratic China told 'The 
Australian' that a number of performers in a concert marking the anniversary of 
the massacre on Saturday night had already received phone calls from the 
Chinese embassy.

In Perth, a memorial service was held at the Roman Catholic cathedral.

A replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue from the Beijing protest was 
displayed during a rally in Birsbane.

In Hongkong, police said last night that about 250,000 people rallied in the 
colony's streets shouting anti-Beijing slogans in the biggest local anti-China 
protest since the massacre.

---------------------------------
Another article "Military frisks a nervous Beijing" by Russel Skelton was also 
in "The Australian" today.

---------------------------------
2> In the front page of "The Age" is a large photo of a 2-year-old child 
holding sticks of incense outside the Chinese consulate in Torrak (Melbourne) 
yesterday.

---------------------------------
3> "Chinese venerate dead in Melbourne protest" 
by Mark Brolly on "The Age"

Several hundred Chinese gathered in the peace of a leafy Torrak street 
yesterday to commemorate the bloodshed in Beijing's Tienanmen Square a year 
ago.

The crowd, many of them Chinese students afraid to return home in the wake of 
the massacre, demonstrated outside the consulate-general of the People's 
Republic of China, in Irving Road, and held a traditional Chinese veneration of 
the dead.

Incense sticks were burnt, bows made to a makshift altar, and mock paper 
currency set alight in remembrance of those who have dies since the People's 
Liberation Army mowed down pro-democracy demonstrators on the night of 3-4 June 
last year.

The demonstrators also shouted slogans calling for human rights, describing 4 
June as the darkest in Chinese history and warning the leaders and officials 
involved that they would share the fate of Rumania's executed dictator, Nicolae 
Ceausescu.  Stars on a Chinese flag were altered to resemble shulls.

The Victorian chairman of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy, Mr Da Ming Sie, 
called on the the Australian Government to grant permanent residence to Chinese 
students in Australia.

Mr Da said many students had been in Australia for two years, but were afraid 
to return to China for fear of the their safety.  He said many of the students' 
visas expired in January next year and they faced danger if forced to return to 
China.

"I think the Australian Government could do something more to protect not only 
our members but all the students from China," Mr Da said.  "Permanent residence 
is the best way for us, but we would return to China if thing got better 
because it is our motherland.  We have careers there, our families there, our 
homes there."

The Victorian general secretary of the alliance, Mr Charlie Lin, said the 
campaign for democracy could flare again at any time should a leader such as 
Deng Xiaoping die.  He said fear of reprisal had created a virtual blackout of 
information from China.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Editor/Sender of this Issue:    Bo Xiong   in Chicago, U. S. A.          |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  To subscribe/unsubscribe, send contribution/comment and report problem,  |
|  send e-mail to:                                                          |
|  [email-masked]     OR     [email-masked]                |
|  OR        [email-masked]                                |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+