Copyright 1989 Reuters
June 2, 1989, Friday, PM cycle
LENGTH: 383 words
HEADLINE: RIFTS, FACTIONS, PARANOIA HIT CHINA'S STUDENT MOVEMENT
DATELINE: BEIJING
BODY:
As China's communist overlords jockey for power, the student democracy
movement that set them at each other's throats has also split into factions.
Paranoia is stealing over central Beijing's Tiananmen Square, occupied
since May 13 by students clamoring for democracy, freedom and overthrow
of government leaders they call despotic.
"He has turned against the movement. He has been sent by the police
to split us up," said a student spokesman talking about a former leader
of the pro-democracy protests.
Reuters, June 2, 1989
The former leader, Lian Shengde, Thursday handed in his resignation as head of an unofficial union uniting students from outside Beijing.
"The Beijing student leaders want to run this protest as their own affair," said Lian, a 20-year-old student at an institute for future airline workers in the northern city Tianjin.
"They are undemocratic and took many decisions without consulting the students from outside Beijing."
A member of Poland's Solidarity workers' union, in Beijing as a journalist for the union-sponsored newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, said there were signs that the selfless euphoria seen among the students two weeks ago was giving way to personal power plays.
"These young passionate people soon begin thinking about themselves before the interests of the movement," said Wojciech Gielzynski.
Sitting in the dirt under trees to the east of Tiananmen, Lian and a band of faithful followers said they would remain in Beijing to oppose the movement they feel has turned sour.
Reuters, June 2, 1989 "Of course we all support the aims of democracy, freedom, science and law but those Beijing students are losing credibility. They should take more care to seek truth from facts and not just believe every rumor flying about," Lian added.
Students say they had intended to elect the leaders of their unions but the demonstrations escalated too quickly and there was no time.
The spokesman for the mainstream demonstrators in the square, who Friday entered their 13th day defying a martial law decree, said Lian was a police plant and the brains behind a bizarre and unsuccessful kidnap attempt on their leaders.
The kidnapping episode, which could not be proven, was just one of many recent stories of attempted or imminent sabotage and police infiltration into the student movement.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LEVEL 1 - 21 OF 32 STORIES
Copyright 1989 Reuters
The Reuter Library Report
June 2, 1989, Friday, PM cycle
LENGTH: 679 words
HEADLINE: RIFTS, FACTIONS, PARANOIA HIT CHINA'S STUDENT MOVEMENT
DATELINE: PEKING, June 2
BODY:
As China's communist overlords jockey for power, the student democracy
movement that set them at each other's throats has also become riven with
rival factions.
Paranoia is stealing over central Peking's Tiananmen Square, occupied since May 13 by students clamoring for democracy, freedom and overthrow of government leaders they call despotic.
"He has turned against the movement. He has been sent by the police to split us up," said a student spokesman talking about a former leader of the
Reuters; June 2, 1989
pro-democracy protests.
The former leader, Lian Shengde, on Thursday handed in his resignation as head of an unofficial union uniting students from outside Peking.
"The Peking student leaders want to run this protest as their own affair," said Lian, a 20-year-old student at an institute for future airline workers in the northern city Tianjin.
"They are undemocratic and took many decisions without consulting the students from outside Peking."
A member of Poland's Solidarity workers' union, in Peking as a journalist for the union-sponsored newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, said there were signs that the selfless euphoria seen among the students two weeks ago was giving way to personal power plays.
"These young passionate people soon begin thinking about themselves before the interests of the movement," said Wojciech Gielzynski.
Sitting in the dirt under trees to the east of Tiananmen, Lian and a band of faithful followers said they would remain in Peking to oppose the movement Reuters; June 2, 1989
they feel has turned sour.
"Of course we all support the aims of democracy, freedom, science and law but those Peking students are losing credibility. They should take more care to seek truth from facts and not just believe every rumor flying about," Lian added.
Students say they had intended to elect the leaders of their unions but the demonstrations escalated too quickly and there was no time.
The spokesman for the mainstream demonstrators in the square, who on Friday entered their 13th day defying a martial law decree, said Lian was a police plant and the brains behind a bizarre and unsuccessful kidnap attempt on their leaders.
At a news conference on Thursday, the spokesman told journalists how four would-be kidnappers in the dead of night stole into the tent of student leader Chai Ling and her husband, only to take fright and flee after Chai's husband called out for help.
"We know that who was behind this (kidnapping) attempt is a certain member of the provincial student's union...who wanted to take control of the broadcasting tent and tell everyone to go home," the spokesman said. Reuters; June 2, 1989
The kidnapping episode, which could not be proven because the assailants escaped, was just one of many recent stories of attempted or imminent sabotage and police infiltration into the student movement.
"Watch out for plainclothes police," said Wang Yue of the students' information bureau.
"They dress up as tourists with cameras. But once they take your picture, then they can arrest you after this is finished."
Pro-democracy demonstrations started in Peking after the death on April 15 of Hu Yaobang, a former Communist Party chief purged in 1987 for allowing the spread of Western ideas blamed for student protests at the end of 1986.
Diplomats believe the current power struggle among China's leaders was sparked by a disagreement over how to deal with the student protests.
Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, believed to have urged a more lenient line on the students, has almost certainly lost out to hardline Premier Li Peng and his mentor Deng Xiaoping.
Reuters; June 2, 1989
Rebel students encamped in the square wait day and night for signs that troops on the outskirts of the city, estimated to number about 150,000, may roll in to the center and drive them from their refugee-like tent city.
The pressure seems to be telling.
"They are coming this afternoon. Plainclothes police will infiltrate a Peking citizens rally marching to Tiananmen," said one student.
"When they get here they will start to beat us. They are all trained in kung fu."
But the rally never came. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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