AP WAS THERE: Troops storm Tiananmen Square

BEIJING (AP) — EDITOR’S NOTE — On June 4, 1989, AP reporter John Pomfret was in central Beijing when Chinese soldiers attacked pro-democracy protesters on Tiananmen Square.

Demonstrators had occupied the square, China’s symbolic political heart, for three weeks demanding greater social freedoms and an end to corruption. The crackdown ended a period of relative political openness, led to the downfall of Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang and plunged Beijing into diplomatic isolation that lasted until the late 1990s.