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BEIJING, China (AP) \u2014 Checkpoints and rows of police vehicles lined a major road leading to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square as China heightened security on the 35th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.<\/p>\n
China has long quashed any memory of the killings, when the Chinese government ordered in the army to end the months-long protests and uphold Communist rule. An estimated 180,000 troops and armed police rolled in with tanks and armored vehicles, and fired into crowds as they pushed toward Tiananmen Square.<\/p>\n
The death toll remains unknown to this day. Hundreds, if not thousands are believed to have been killed in an operation that started the night of June 3 through the following morning.<\/p>\n
Across China, the event remains a sensitive and taboo subject that is heavily censored, and any mention or reference on social media are erased.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of tourists lined the streets leading to gates to enter Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.<\/p>\n
Asked by a foreign journalist for comment on the 35th anniversary during a daily foreign ministry briefing on Monday, spokesperson Mao Ning shrugged off the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chinese government has long since come to a clear conclusion on the political disturbance that took place in the late 1980s,\u201d Mao said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n