Latest news with #massacre
The Guardian
7 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
World won't forget Tiananmen Square, US and Taiwan say on 36th anniversary of massacre
The world will never forget the Tiananmen Square massacre, the US secretary of state and Taiwan president have said on the 36th anniversary of the crackdown, which China's government still tries to erase from domestic memory. There is no official death toll but activists believe hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed by China's People's Liberation Army in the streets around Tiananmen Square, Beijing's central plaza, on 4 June 1989. 'Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989,' said Marco Rubio, the US's top diplomat, in a statement. 'The [Chinese Communist party] actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget.' In a Facebook post, Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, also praised the bravery of the protesters. 'Authoritarian governments often choose to silence and forget history, while democratic societies choose to preserve the truth and refuse to forget those who gave their lives – and their dreams – to the idea of human rights,' Lai said. Ahead of the 1989 massacre protesters had been gathering for weeks in the square to call for democratic reforms to the CCP. The student-led movement attracted worldwide attention, which turned to horror as tanks rolled into the square to clear the encampment. Several protesters were also killed at a smaller demonstration in Chengdu, a city in south-west China. The date of 4 June remains one of China's strictest taboos, and the Chinese government employs extensive and increasingly sophisticated resources to censor any discussion or acknowledgment of it inside China. Internet censors scrub even the most obscure references to the date from online spaces, and activists in China are often put under increased surveillance or sent on enforced 'holidays' away from Beijing. New research from human rights workers has found that the sensitive date also sees heightened transnational repression of Chinese government critics overseas by the government and its proxies. The report published on Wednesday by Article 19, a human rights research and advocacy group, said that the Chinese government 'has engaged in a systematic international campaign of transnational repression targeting protesters critical of the Chinese Communist party,' with Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hongkongers particularly likely to be affected. The report cited Freedom House research in 2023, which found that China had been responsible for about 30% all recorded acts of physical transnational repression since 2014. 'Protesters targeted by [transnational repression] frequently live in fear of surveillance; targeting; abduction and forced repatriation, especially around embassies and consulates; and 'collective punishment' retaliation against relatives still in China, which also leads people to cut ties with their family,' the report said. The Article 19 researchers found that, with Tiananmen Square vigils snuffed out in China, pro-CCP agents appear to be targeting commemorations in other parts of the world. In 2022, a replica of a statue known as the 'Pillar of Shame', by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt, was vandalised in Taipei. The statue is designed to memorialise the people who died on 4 June 1989. The original was on display at the University of Hong Kong for 23 years before it was removed by university authorities in 2021. For many years, Hong Kong, and to a lesser extent Macau, were the only places on Chinese territory where the event could be commemorated. But since the 2019 pro-democracy protests and the ensuing crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, the annual 4 June vigil in Victoria Park has been banned. In recent years some high profile activists have been prosecuted over attempts to mark the day. For the last three years a government-sponsored food carnival has been held on the site during the week of the anniversary. On Tuesday there was a heavy police presence in Causeway Bay, near the park, Hong Kong Free Press reported. A performance artist, Chan Mei-tung, was stopped and searched, and later escorted from the area by police. She was standing on the road chewing gum, according to the outlet. In 2022 Chan was arrested on after she stood in the same area peeling a potato. On Tuesday Hong Kong's chief executive, John Lee, warned that any activity conducted on Wednesday must be 'lawful', but was not specific. A key criticism of Hong Kong's national security laws are that they are broad and the proscribed crimes are ill-defined. One of the few groups of people in China who are still outspoken about the events of 36 years ago are the rapidly ageing 'Tiananmen Mothers', parents of young people killed in the massacre, who have called for an official reckoning. One of the founding members, 88-year-old Zhang Xianling, gave a rare interview this year with Radio Free Asia, saying that she still lives under close surveillance. Zhang said: 'I don't know why they are so afraid of me. I am 88 years old and I have to use a wheelchair if I can't walk 200 metres. Am I that scary?' Earlier this week Li Xiaoming, an ex-PLA officer who has lived in Australia for 25 years, gave an interview to Taiwan media, about his involvement at the Tiananmen crackdown as a junior soldier. Li said he was compelled to talk 'as a warning to the world', and also to Taiwan which is facing the threat of Chinese annexation. 'Although the CCP leadership sees the 4 June incident as something shameful, what they learned from it is the need for strict control – eliminating any sign of unrest early on, controlling and blocking public opinion, and brainwashing to people. They work to crush all instability at the earliest stage,' he said according to CNA's translation.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Tiananmen massacre: It's time to wake up and stand up to the butchers of Beijing
On this day, 36 years ago, thousands of peaceful protesters were gunned down in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and in the streets and alleyways of China's capital during a brutal crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests. Thousands more were massacred in cities across China. British diplomatic cables revealed that the death toll may have been as high as 10,000. Last week, a group known as the Tiananmen Mothers – whose sons and daughters were killed, injured or jailed in 1989 – issued a statement calling for an independent investigation into the massacre. 'The bereaved will never forget,' they wrote. 'This atrocity, engineered entirely by the government of the time, remains one of the darkest chapters in human history. The pain it has caused has never left – it is a nightmare that time cannot fade.' Yet, as far as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is concerned, nothing happened on 4 June 1989. This was a day erased from history – no commemoration has ever been possible in mainland China. Even in Hong Kong, the one city in China where memorials used to be held, candlelight vigils have been banned over the past five years. Hong Kong's Catholic Church, which used to hold commemorative masses, has not done so for the past three years. Simply lighting a candle on this day can land you in jail for years. Thirty-six years on, one might ask the question: what did the student movement in 1989 achieve? On the surface, nothing, except bloodshed, death and repression. Over the past three decades, despite brief periods of relative relaxation and apparent opening, the rule of the CCP regime has become more repressive, and authoritarianism in China has intensified. Over the past 13 years of Xi Jinping's rule, in particular, China has been plunged into a new dark age of repression – in which we have seen the dismantling of Hong Kong's once-celebrated and vibrant civil society, genocide of the Uyghurs, an acceleration of persecution of Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, and increased repression in Tibet. In addition, we have seen more aggression towards Taiwan and more transnational repression against Beijing's critics abroad, with China operating clandestine security outposts in places like New York and London to monitor and threaten Chinese activists abroad. For too long, the free world has emboldened and facilitated the CCP's repression. The decision by the US to award China 'permanent normal trading status' (PNTR) and later 'Most-Favoured Nation' (MFN) status in 2000, just over a decade after the slaughter, was wrong-headed. Turning to the present day, there is a need for a wake-up call. We should not have normal trading relations with a genocidal regime committing crimes against humanity and dire repression. Such a regime cannot be trusted. Few sane voices would say we should disengage or stop all trade – that is not possible with such a vast market and such a strong power. No, the question before us is not whether to engage, but how – and on whose terms? We should impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for the Uyghur genocide, but also for the dismantling of Hong Kong's freedoms in violation of an international treaty, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Beijing promised to uphold Hong Kong's autonomy and liberty at least until 2047. We should also demand the release of political prisoners. Any trade deals with China should be contingent on the release of media entrepreneur and British citizen Jimmy Lai, barrister Chow Hang-tung and all Hong Kong political prisoners. Ms Chow was jailed for organising candlelight vigils to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre (Chow had her conviction overturned, but is still behind bars over a separate subversion case) and one of the multiple charges against Lai was the crime of lighting a candle and saying a prayer at such a vigil, so their cases are symbolic on this anniversary. But the international community must also step up efforts to demand the release citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, Christian pastor Wang Yi, Uyghur medical doctor Gulshan Abbas, dissident Dr Wang Bingzhang, who has been held for 23 years after being abducted from Vietnam, Tibet's Panchen Lama and his relatives, and the thousands of prisoners of conscience across China. On the surface, Beijing's leaders seem emboldened. Even though China's economic miracle appears to have waned, with its property bubble bursting and the opportunities for young people to find good jobs declining, nevertheless it appears on track to hit 5 per cent growth this year. With its Belt and Road Initiative, despite failures and frustrations, China appears to have successfully entrapped many developing countries in its orbit, building an alliance of authoritarianism to counter the free world. The turbulence over Donald Trump's tariffs so far does not appear to have dented Xi Jinping's grip on power – and may even have strengthened his hand in the short term. Yet, there are two important things that the protesters in Tiananmen Square 36 years ago achieved, which we forget at our peril. First, they showed that, when given the chance, the people of China want freedom – and many have made enormous personal sacrifices towards that goal. They are not beholden to the CCP. Even today, when I speak with Chinese friends privately, many of them indicate their desire to be free. And protests in recent years – notably the White Paper movement of 2022 – show that the lamp of freedom in China has not dimmed and will, periodically, emerge again. Second, by peacefully protesting, the students in Tiananmen Square and around the country illustrated the stark contrast between their cause and character and the regime's. Faced with peaceful protestors, the CCP sent in tanks and soldiers. They met placards and hunger strikers with guns and bullets. In so doing, they exposed to the world – not for the first time, and not for the last – their true nature. Thirty-six years on, the regime has not changed. It continues its repression, cruelty, inhumanity, barbarity and criminality. The question is not whether China has changed. It is whether the free world has the courage to change its approach to China. Will we put morals before mammon? Will we, who believe in freedom and human rights, finally wake up and stand up to the butchers of Beijing?
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘Game of Thrones-style families' behind 2,000-year-old Dorset massacre
Game of Thrones -like barons in England were responsible for the brutal massacre of dozens of people 2,000 years ago, research has revealed. The 62 skeletons, found with skulls ' smashed to oblivion ', were unearthed in 1936 at a mass burial site in Maiden Castle, Dorset. Researchers at the time blamed the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43 for their deaths - something that resonated with British fears of a Nazi invasion in the 1930s. But Bournemouth University archaeologist Dr Miles Russell revealed the bones actually dated to around the first century AD, by using modern dating techniques. 'They died violently and with overkill. These were Game of Thrones-like barons with one dynasty wiping out another,' Dr Russell told The Independent. 'Their skulls have been repeatedly smashed to oblivion with swords and other weapons. People were dragged up there and put to death.' Dr Russell said those killed were an aristocratic elite murdered and buried with honour, something that would not have been done for common criminals. 'They could have been competing for a throne or power, and it was important to finish them off and destroy the blood line,' he added. Sir Mortimer Wheeler led excavations of the Iron Age hill fort in the 1930s, and popularised the idea that the remains belonged to English people slain by 'barbaric' pillaging Romans. Because the site was still occupied in AD43, Sir Mortimer was convinced the skeletons were evidence of a Roman campaign against native Britons, according to Historic England. Dr Russell said this was a reasonable assumption to make at the time without access to modern carbon dating systems used today. He said this dramatic explanation for the burial site would have helped attract funding for archaeological digs, something that was in short supply in the 1930s. 'They were thugs with resources and private armies. The hill fort dominated the horizon, and these people were done to death publicly,' Dr Russell added. Maiden Castle is one of the largest Iron Age hill forts in Europe, around the size of 50 football pitches, according to Historic England. The castle's ramparts were constructed around 2,400 years ago and protected hundreds of residents. Within a few decades of the arrival of the Romans, the hill fort was abandoned, Historic England added. The Romans then built the town of Dorchester to the north-east as the regional capital of the Durotriges.
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The gruesome truth behind a 2,000-year-old massacre revealed
Gangland executions of dozens of people 2,000 years ago were wrongly blamed on Romans, a study has found. A mass burial site containing 62 skeletons was found at Maiden Castle in Dorset in 1936 and attributed to a brutal massacre by pillaging Romans. But researchers at Bournmouth University used modern dating techniques to study the bones and found the victims suffered violent deaths before the Romans landed on English soil, disproving the longstanding belief that the massacre was part of their ruthless invasion. Instead, modern evidence paints a picture of revenge, bloodthirsty executions and tumultuous politics. Miles Russell, the current dig director, said: 'We can now say quite categorically that these individuals died a long time before the Romans arrived and over a long period of time, not in a single battle for a hill fort. 'The deaths were a series of gangland-style executions. People were dragged up there and put to death as a way of one group exerting control over another. 'These were Mafia-like families. Game of Throne-like barons with one dynasty wiping out another to control trade links and protection rackets for power. What we are seeing is the people who lost out being executed.' The skeletons themselves bore marks of savage ferocity. Most, Mr Russell said, have smashed skulls with no defensive wounds. 'They were repeatedly struck with a sword to the head with the skulls smashed to oblivion,' he added. 'You are talking overkill, not a single death blow. These were gangland executions carried out in a very prominent and obvious way as a warning to others.' The researchers believe the now debunked theory was accepted as truth because it was espoused by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who led excavations at the site in the 1930s, and resonated with public fear of a potential invasion from the Nazis. The majority of this violence was at the start of the first century AD, the scientists found, which they say reveals rising social tensions in the decades preceding the Roman invasion in 43AD. 'In associating the cemetery with a Roman attack, Sir Mortimer Wheeler missed an intriguing proposition, namely that the individuals derived from different, though no less dramatic, forms of violence enacted in the final years of the pre-Roman Iron Age,' the scientists write in their paper. 'Whether this related to raiding, dispute resolution or dynastic conflict, it is clear that those interred in the east gate died in episodic periods of bloodshed which may have been the result of localised social turmoil. 'Ironically, perhaps, it would appear that acts of interpersonal Iron Age violence ended within a generation or so following the formal establishment of a Roman province in the mid first century AD.' The study is published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Inside psychiatrist's 'chat therapy' which replaced the powerful drugs that kept Joel Cauchi sane - as she is SLAMMED by experts for taking him off his vital medication
An expert criminologist has slammed the psychiatrist who took Joel Cauchi off his schizophrenia medication - and then told the inquest into the Bondi Junction Westfield massacre that her decision had nothing to do with his deadly rampage. Dr A treated Cauchi for eight years and told an inquest this week that he was not psychotic when he stabbed six people to death. She said his actions were 'likely due to his sexual frustrations and hatred towards women', although she backtracked the following day after her comments sparked anger and disbelief. Now criminal psychologist Dr Tim Watson-Munro has blasted her comments and said she is 'kidding herself' about her 'chat therapy' treatment of Cauchi's condition. The Bondi Junction inquest has previously heard 'clear and unanimous' expert psychiatric evidence that Cauchi was 'floridly psychotic' when he stabbed the 16 victims. Dr Watson-Munro said this was a tragedy for both the families of the victims and for the family of Cauchi. He stressed he did not wish to personally attack Dr A, and was focusing on the professional views she had expressed. But he said it was patently obvious that Cauchi was 'drowning in psychosis' when he launched his rampage. Queensland -based Dr A, who has run several psychiatry businesses, told the Bondi Junction inquest that Cauchi was not psychotic and did not take medication as it was 'not necessary'. Despite offering her 'sincere apologies' and saying the massacre 'devastated me personally', Dr A insisted Cauchi could not have had a psychotic episode at the time of the 2024 murders. She said his psychosis had previously exhibited as extreme disorganisation to the point he couldn't put 'two words together', and he therefore wouldn't have had the ability to launch his attack. 'That was nothing to do with psychosis,' the psychiatrist told the NSW Coroners Court. 'He couldn't have organised himself to do what he did. I think it might have been due to his frustrations, sexual frustration, pornography and hatred towards women.' In under three minutes on the afternoon of April 13 last year, Cauchi, 40, murdered Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38, Pakria Darchia, 55, and Faraz Tahir, 30. Five were female shoppers at Westfield Bondi Junction and one a male security guard. Cauchi also injured 10 more with his US military knife, before he was confronted and shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott. Dr Watson-Munro stressed he had never professionally examined Cauchi, but said he took issue with Dr A's claim that he didn't need medication. Cuachi had been on powerful antispychotic medication - clozapine and aripiprazole - to treat his schizophrenia for 18 years before he stopped taking them completely in 2020. 'That is all well and good if the person if not psychotic, but if someone is floridly psychotic and out of touch and deteriorating?' said Dr Watson-Munro. 'He was living in his car, had lost contact with his family ... was totally dishevelled and shambolic. 'He was obviously having issues about not having a relationship. I have read that treatment with antipsychotic drugs has side effects such as the impact of libido. 'Wanting to come off the medication and have a go at life is a separate issue and his parents were sufficiently concerned. 'But the evidence would suggest he had a well-established and documented schizophrenic illness. 'And we end up with this enormous tragedy.' Cauchi was taking 550mg of clozapine for 10 years under the care of public health doctors when he transferred to Dr A's private clinic in February 2012. Dr A has in the past promoted several types of therapy to treat patients, including 'dialectic therapy' where patients and therapists discuss their mental health. Dr Watson-Munro dismissed those treatments as 'chat therapy' for people with personality disorders or anxiety, but not effective for people with schizophrenia. The inquest heard Dr A worked with Cauchi to see if his symptoms, including a lack of joy or motivation, were caused by his schizophrenia or clozapine's side effects. Dr A embarked on a plan to lower Cauchi's clozapine dose, and his mother Michele agreed to support him through the gradual reduction. But in 2019, his mum became concerned Cauchi was suffering a schizophrenic relapse, after coming off his medication, when he said he was under Satanic control. He also had extreme OCD, compulsively used pornography and his gait - his walking style - had changed, she said. She contacted Dr A's clinic seven times to voice her concerns. The inquest heard that at first Dr A accepted Mrs Cauchi's concerns at 'face value' and prescribed her son aripiprazole, but then the doctor felt she had erred on the side of safety. Cauchi did not take the medication, and was not psychotic, Dr A claimed. She added that Mrs Cauchi was 'a beautiful, beautiful mother but she is not a psychiatrist'. Dr Watson-Munro was taken aback by the comment and told Daily Mail Australia there were 'some real pearlers' in Dr A's testimony. On Tuesday, senior counsel assisting the inquest Dr Peggy Dwyer SC asked Dr A: 'What would you say to the suggestion that you refuse to accept that Joel was psychotic on 13 April because you don't want to accept, yourself, the failings in your care of Joel?' The psychiatrist replied: 'I did not fail in my care of Joel and I refuse – I have no error on my behalf.' Dr Dwyer suggested she could have made a phone call. 'You could have done that, you just couldn't charge for it,' Dr Dwyer said, which the psychiatrist accepted. . 'It was conjecture on my part and I shouldn't have speculated four years later after I completed his treatment,' the psychiatrist said. Criminal psychologist Dr Tim Watson-Munro said a medical system which let Joel Cauchi fall through the cracks when he deperately needed treatment was to also blame for the loss of 7 lives, including Cauchi's (above) Barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, representing the families of Ashlee Good, Jade Young and Dawn Singleton, described Dr A's testimony on Tuesday as 'shocking evidence to me and my clients' and 'contrary to all the expert evidence'. Daily Mail Australia spoke with Cauchi's shattered parents this week, who refused to lay blame. Cauchi's parents stressed that there was only one person who needed to apologise. 'My son let us down,' Mr Cauchi said. But Dr Watson-Munro said it was not just Cauchi to blame, but a medical system which let a severely mentally ill man fall through the cracks when he deperately needed treatment. What does it take to strip a psychiatrist of their licence? By Harrison Christian Psychiatrists can be held accountable if found negligent over a patient who went on to commit a violent crime - but it's unlikely to cost them their licence. If a psychiatrist fails to take steps over client posing a serious risk, they could face disciplinary action by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), or a civil claim, or both. But stripping the psychiatrist of their licence would be an 'extreme outcome', even after even disciplinary action by AHRPRA, said Bill Madden, adjunct Professor at the Australian Centre for Health law Research. The more likely result would be suspension or that they're made to undertake supervision, he said. But he said they can face civil court legal action over perceived failures of care or a failure to sound the alarm when threats are made. He said the most prominent case is a landmark 1976 case when Prosenjit Poddar warned his therapist he would kill fellow student Tatiana Tarasoff - and then he did. The Supreme Court of California then ruled mental health professionals have a duty to reveal patient threats, and Mr Madden said it's the same in Australia. 'Ordinarily there's a doctor-patient relationship of confidentiality,' he said. 'Doctors are not normally permitted to release information, but the exception is where there is a serious (and perhaps imminent) danger to another person.' In the code of conduct for Australian doctors, there are provisions for doctors to breach confidentiality if a patient makes a specific or even a general threat. Mr Madden recalled a civil court claim after NSW's Morning Base Hospital discharged mentally ill patient Phillip Pettigrove who went on to kill his friend. While there are a few reported legal cases in Australia, civil claims are usually resolved out of court, limiting information available, Mr Madden said. 'They're all pretty rare, but there may be some scrutiny of situations by coroners, or civil cases that are made but often not reported, or disciplinary cases by AHPRA or the Medical Board,' he added. In the 2017 Victorian inquest into the death of Adriana Donato, the coroner scrutinised the response of James Stoneham's psychologist to a threat he made to harm an unnamed person. Under questioning, it was revealed Stoneham may have made reference to Adriana and admitted his plan. The coroner recommended a change to Victorian law, lowering the requirements for a breach of client confidentiality.
