Chinese commemorate Tiananmen protests with images of tanks

Beijing: Chinese application users on Sunday defied the internet censorship by sharing images of military tanks, instead of bikes, on the bike-sharing application, to recall the Tiananmen protests' 28th anniversary.

A picture being shared on WeChat messaging application replicates the map of Beijing that is used by the bicycle-hiring application, but instead showing images of military tanks instead of bicycles at the locations where they are hired, reports Efe.

In the image, 10 "tanks" appear in Chang'an Avenue, north of Tiananmen Square, in a clear reference to the pro-democracy demonstrations during June 3-4, 1989 when the army entered the city to disperse thousands of demonstrators, leaving a number of civilians dead.

So far, the image, as well as a few others that are similar, has escaped the censorship, which has blocked most of the materials related to the event also deemed a massacre.

The government, as usual during the time of the Tiananmen anniversary, has stepped up efforts to prevent the commemoration of the event and major social networks have implemented temporary measures to ensure the same.

For example, this week, Weibo - the Chinese Twitter - informed its users abroad that they will not be able to share photos and videos until June 5 due to an upgrade of its systems, coinciding with the anniversary.

To date, there has never been a confirmation on the exact numbers of casualties during the protests between June 3 and 4 in Beijing although estimated numbers by different sources range between hundreds and thousands.

The Communist regime, having disseminated no information about the incident, considers the chapter closed.