#RESIST - Student Activism @ DU

Students demonstrating in solidarity with the Tiananmen Square protesters whose action had been violently crushed by the Chinese government. Credit: University of Denver Archives. Photographer unknown.

In 1989 over 100,000 people gathered in China’s Tiananmen Square after the death of political reformist Hu Yaobang. On May 20, 1989, Premier Li Peng declared martial law in Beijing and 250,000 troops were sent to the Square to disperse protestors, who at one point numbered almost one million. The protest movement in China was largely led by students, and across the U.S., students - many of whom were Chinese citizens studying in America - protested in solidarity. Photographers at one such event took this photograph. The protesters and the event have not yet been identified.