by Richard S. Ehrlich
BEIJING, China -- Steel-helmeted troops with fixed bayonets guarded the Chinese capital Thursday, and cleared streets of burnt vehicles and the last corpse of a solder, after the massacre of Tiananmen Square's pro-democracy demonstrators left more than 1,000 people dead.
Copyright by Richard S. Ehrlich
Website, more Asia news by Richard S. Ehrlich plus the non-fiction book of interviews, documentation and investigative journalism, titled: "Hello My Big Big Honey!" Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews
June 8, 1989
Troops With Fixed Bayonets Guard Chinese Capital, Clearing Burnt Vehicles and Last Soldier's Corpse
Premier Li Peng, who signed a martial law declaration last week and is the main target of the democracy movement's hatred, made a surprise appearance on Chinese television for the first time since the weekend violence.
In the broadcast, Li denounced the students, praised the army and vowed to crack down on remaining pro-democracy supporters.
Li was greeted by televised applause.
The Beijing Municipal Government, which is the headquarters of the martial law troops, warned citizens in the TV broadcast: "No one is to set up any blockade in the capital," or "sabotage" transportation or other vital services.
It said pro-democracy student organizations were "illegal," must stop "counter-revolutionary insurrection" and "confess to their crimes."
The announcements indicated the government was hunting and arresting suspected supporters of the democracy movement.
The traditional punishment for counter-revolutionary activity is usually death, or long prison terms involving brutal "re-education."
Beijing's main railway station, meanwhile, was jammed with people who said they were fleeing.
Ticket sellers said no south-bound trains have moved in or out of Beijing for the past four days, due to protesters obstructing rail tracks in southern China.
Some Western military analysts said troops of the 27th army were being replaced with soldiers from other units, to appease the population's anger.
The 27th army was responsible for most of the weekend massacre, and its continued occupation of Beijing appeared to be dividing the military leadership.
The new replacement troops were greeted by some bystanders with friendly gestures and offers of cigarettes, plus impromptu lectures on how atrocious their predecessors behaved.
Tiananmen Square, the heart of the bloody crackdown by soldiers against unarmed civilians, was still guarded by rows of tanks, army trucks and troops.
It remained off-limits to the population.
An extensive, six-hour tour of Beijing and its suburbs by jeep revealed a crippled capital with only some shops open, and much of the population riding bicycles to explore the aftermath of the weekend carnage.
On the rubble-strewn main street which runs south from Tiananmen Square, hundreds of soldiers brandishing T-56 assault rifles with fixed bayonets, marched in formation.
Some soldiers' faces betrayed nervousness. Others grinned. But most were expressionless as they patrolled.
When a large curious crowd gathered and tried to talk with some of them, the troops marched into the Temple of Heaven Park -- where some are camped -- and then closed its huge red wooden doors.
Hundreds of other troops, wearing red armbands over their olive green uniforms, swept up the debris from Beijing's streets and towed the burnt hulks of armored personnel carriers, buses, cars and other vehicles off the roads to clear the way for traffic.
Ironically, about a dozen armed personnel carriers -- bright orange after being torched by angry mobs -- were dragged by authorities to the front of the Military Museum west of Tiananmen Square.
Thursday was the first gunfire-free day since Saturday night when troops purged Tiananmen Square of the student-led movement by indiscriminately shooting down unarmed civilians in a nightmarish spree.
Many buildings along Beijing's main roads are pock-marked with bullet holes and broken windows from the army's random firing.
Soldiers and white-clad ambulance attendants finally removed the corpse of a soldier who was killed during the weekend on Changan Avenue west of Tiananmen Square.
The body was unexplainably left in the middle of the road, covered by a green tarpaulin, for the past four days.
A government TV crew filmed its removal.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is living out of mobile kitchens which spew steam from cooking pots, and using portable latrines parked on the roadsides.
Troops have also entered the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on the south side of Tiananmen Square, and other nearby well-located buildings.
In clandestine interviews, however, Beijing University students said they would continue their struggle for democracy and demanded "punishment" for the 27th army.
"I think there will be a civil war, because the 27th army was too violent," one student said.
"But the other army units are more humane, so the Beijing citizens like them."
He identified the other units as drawn from the 28th, 38th and 64th armies, but there was no immediate independent confirmation of those units.
"I have many friends in the democracy movement who have left Beijing and are hiding in their home towns in other provinces," the student said.
"They went back because it is dangerous at Beijing University, and also so they can tell people elsewhere the truth about what happened."
Another Beijing University student said, "We can smile and walk in the street very calmly now, but there is anger in everybody's heart."
A third student said, "Tiananmen Square was a slaughterhouse."
As he spoke, a nearby stalled tank was swamped by onlookers who gingerly inspected its outer armor and crawled inside.
Despite fears of food shortages and panic buying, the few markets which were open sold cabbage, watermelons, green bell peppers, bananas and other basics.
One Third World diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said that though Li and other hardliners appeared to be in control, "nothing has settled in China."
"It is actually the military forces which have taken command of the country. No faction is now totally in command.
"There may be a temporary alliance of certain hardline factions and certain moderates coming together to present an appearance of normality to the people, but this is only temporary."
The envoy predicted more factional fighting in China, "despite their trying to present a face of normality, which does not exist.
"The military knows it cannot crack down on all the people, so it will instead use institutions like the National People's Congress to manipulate and massage society," the diplomat predicted.
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