Thirty years on: How the Tiananmen Square massacre unfolded

Three decades have passed since Chinese authorities fired indiscriminately at student protesters in Beijing. This is what happened in the lead up to 4 June 1989.

The death of a reformist

Former Communist Party of China (CCP) chief Hu Yaobang had sought to liberalise China and overturn some of the Mao era ideologies. He was removed from his position as a top official in the CCP in 1987 by then-de facto leader Deng Xiaoping for supporting liberal political and economic views.

He died on 15 April 1989, triggering an outpouring of grief, particularly from students who felt they had lost an ally in their mission to liberalise the country.

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