Cache of unseen Tiananmen Square protest pics show Chinese resistance and clashes with Peoples army up close

The Chinese military massacred over 2,000 peaceful protesters at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, but very few images of what happened have ever been seen publicly.That’s because — despite an estimated million students, workers and civilians attending the protests — the communist regime has gone to great lengths to suppress any documentation of its brutality.But now a trove of some 2,000 photographs have been smuggled out of China and shared with The Post, showing the lead up to and aftermath of the June 4 massacre.The pro-democracy protests had started weeks earlier, when groups peacefully demanded political reform, an end to corruption and greater freedoms. Upset at the unrest and the message it was sending to the rest of the country and the world, the Communist party sent soldiers and armored vehicles into Beijing to crush the movement. The Chinese government’s official death toll stands at 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel, but human rights groups say that is a dramatic undercount and peg the number at around 2,000 to 3,000.These photos were taken by a Chinese state media photographer and had remained hidden for decades on rolls of film stored inside a metal box.The photographer’s family has faced pressure from Chinese authorities to prevent publication of the images, according to The Epoch Times, which obtained and first published the pictures.The photos show students on hunger strike, wearing white cloth bands around their foreheads.

They also show the protesters, which included academics, workers and professionals linking arms to block troops.Communist statues are decorated with protest banners and people held up banners in support of their cause.In photos taken before troops were ordered to storm the square and fire on protesters indiscriminately, military members are seen waving to protesters.One image shows soldiers gratefully accepting brown fried dough sticks from a protester.However, after the massacre the photographer...