Misleading posts resurface old clip of June 4 protester after crackdown's 34th anniversary
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on June 12, 2023 at 08:45
- 3 min read
- By Clara IP, AFP Hong Kong
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"Nanjing warrior risks himself to commemorate June 4," reads the simplified Chinese title of a clip shared on YouTube here on June 5, 2023.
The clip, which has been viewed more than 27,000 times, is overlaid with orange text that makes a similar claim.
The video shows a man urging passers-by not to forget the crackdown as he stands outside The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, a museum in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing (archived link).
He says in Mandarin: "We cannot forget to commemorate this day. How tragic and awful for the parents. Can you imagine how your mother would feel if you were shot and killed?"
The man's shirt has "Don't forget June 4, June 4 will cause heartache" written on it in red.
The clip circulated after the 34th anniversary of the crackdown in Tiananmen Square, where hundreds -- by some estimates, more than 1,000 -- were killed after the government sent troops and tanks to break up peaceful protests, brutally crushing a weeks-long wave of demonstrations calling for political change.
Details of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests have been wiped from history books in China, and censors routinely block websites or social media accounts ahead of the event's anniversary.
On the eve of the anniversary, Beijing police reinforced their presence at the site of a rare demonstration in 2022 against the country's strict Covid rules, blocking online map searches for the site and even removing a road sign. In Hong Kong -- which for decades was the only Chinese city with a large-scale commemoration -- police detained more than a dozen people, including prominent pro-democracy figures.
Clips showing the protest in Nanjing were also shared alongside similar claims on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Gettr.
Although some social media users pointed out the video was outdated, others appeared to believe the video showed genuine footage from 2023.
One wrote: "The new 'Chinese people' after 34 years. Brainwashed into a cold-blooded group".
"What is 8964, a young man on the street asked? It took 34 years to completely erase the blood sacrifices from people's memories. Salute to the unknown warrior," another wrote.
But the video has in fact circulated since 2017.
Protest from 2017
A Google reverse image and keyword search led to a report by American state-owned broadcaster Voice of America that was published here on June 4, 2017 (archived link).
The news report's simplified-Chinese title reads: "Nanjing resident gave a speech to commemorate June 4, arrested for provoking trouble."
The vague charge is often used to stifle dissent in the country and carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment.
Below is a screenshot comparison of a frame from the misleading YouTube clip (left) and the video used in the news article (right):
The report identifies the man as "Shi Tingfu" and notes he distributed the video via WeChat.
It reads in part: "On the morning of June 4, Chinese citizen Shi Tingfu gave a speech in front of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial hall to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the June 4 incident.
"Shi Tingfu was arrested by two policemen in the afternoon on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble."
Shi's arrest was also reported by Amnesty International and the Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times (archived links here and here).
According to a report by Oriental Daily News from February 21, 2018, Shi was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for one-and-a-half years (archived link).
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