Crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests
June 4, 1989
The event in detail
During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) played a decisive role in enforcing martial law, using force to suppress the demonstrations in the city. Within China, the role of the military in 1989 remains a subject of private discussion within the ranks of the party leadership and PLA.