My immediate reaction to the inputs from China in this period was how little real facts surfaced - after all the international medias were there in force. Loss figures for the demonstrators just seemed to be churned up again and again. Typical is that "many were killed in the sidestreets" - after the demonstration at the square itself had been relatively peacefully split up.
Knowing what was at stake at the time - with Hong Kong soon to be taken over by China - I wouldn't be surprised to learn that certain organisations were involved in a blown-up "kill" figure. After all, the tank did stop for the guy with the plastic bags. On the other hand, the Chinese authorities announced that approx. 400 unarmed Chinese soldiers had been killed by provocateurs.
The whole situation reminded me of the uproar in Rumania some years ago. From the town of Timisoara was reported that many were killed, then hundreds, then thousands. Finally, the figure stod at 30.000 civilians killed (that should, then, amount to approx. 100.000 wounded). A few weeks later a Norwegian doctor that worked at the largest hospital in Timisoara could, at his return to Norway, inform that at "his" hospital, 1 - one person had been treated for injuries that could be related to the "uproar" - maybe!
Knowing what was at stake at the time - with Hong Kong soon to be taken over by China - I wouldn't be surprised to learn that certain organisations were involved in a blown-up "kill" figure. After all, the tank did stop for the guy with the plastic bags. On the other hand, the Chinese authorities announced that approx. 400 unarmed Chinese soldiers had been killed by provocateurs.
The whole situation reminded me of the uproar in Rumania some years ago. From the town of Timisoara was reported that many were killed, then hundreds, then thousands. Finally, the figure stod at 30.000 civilians killed (that should, then, amount to approx. 100.000 wounded). A few weeks later a Norwegian doctor that worked at the largest hospital in Timisoara could, at his return to Norway, inform that at "his" hospital, 1 - one person had been treated for injuries that could be related to the "uproar" - maybe!