In the spring of 1989, pro-democracy protests developed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where students and others called for government accountability and freedom of the press, among other popular causes. Overnight on June 3rd and 4th—twenty-five years ago this Wednesday—the government enforced martial law, staging a bloody dispersal of the demonstrations, which killed between five hundred and twenty-five hundred people and initiated a new era of conservatism in the country. Here are photos from the protests and the crackdown.
Daily
Our flagship newsletter highlights the best of The New Yorker, including top stories, fiction, humor, and podcasts.
Daily Comment
Israel’s Politics of Protest
As demonstrations roil American campuses, the Israeli right is using them to its own ends.
By Ruth Margalit
Letter from Biden’s Washington
On Trump and the Elusive Fantasy of a 2024 Election Game-Changer
With a general-election debate and the ex-President’s criminal verdict looming, can anything move the immovable American electorate?
By Susan B. Glasser
Essay
The Historic Trump Court Cases That We Cannot See
The former President is on trial in a courtroom that has banned cameras. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is deciding whether his other trials should even happen.
By Neal Katyal
Daily Comment
What’s Holding Up Trump’s Florida Case?
Judge Aileen Cannon has said, in effect, that the case has become too complicated to proceed sooner. Unfortunately, that may be true.
By Amy Davidson Sorkin