My 5th grade English teacher was there during the massacre. She was at her hotel a few blocks away and the hotel manager pulled the fire alarm so everyone would come down to the lobby. She said that all the guests were sitting on the ground everywhere and the front desk staff was going over a plan on how they were all going to walk to the American embassy because that was the safest place for them to all go. Then a man stood up and said "We are from the American embassy and we came here because we thought we were safer here." So they made a new plan to get to the train station and they were all going to take the train and cross the border. But they had to cross the square. When they got to the square she said that there were bodies everywhere. She had a camera around her neck and she snapped a picture. A man on a bike said “ No no no!” and stole her camera. He made it a few yards away before the soldiers shot him dead for having a camera. He saved her life. They made it to the train and left the station. Some time later, as they were approaching the border, their train was stopped in the wilderness by soldiers. Apparently many Chinese citizens were on the roof of the train trying to escape. She said that from her window she could see the military pulling people down from the roof and lined them all up and shot them dead with a firing squad. Then the train was allowed to cross with the Americans and Europeans onboard. I'm 31 years old now and I will never forget that story.
letdogsvote on June 5th, 2021 at 01:34 UTC »
A whole lot of enthusiastic happy people thinking they were about to make positive change in their government.
Jumbo_Cactaur on June 5th, 2021 at 02:03 UTC »
Chilling what happiness seemed to feel like only to have a dark cloud call over you and change everything.
amaxdvine on June 5th, 2021 at 04:31 UTC »
My 5th grade English teacher was there during the massacre. She was at her hotel a few blocks away and the hotel manager pulled the fire alarm so everyone would come down to the lobby. She said that all the guests were sitting on the ground everywhere and the front desk staff was going over a plan on how they were all going to walk to the American embassy because that was the safest place for them to all go. Then a man stood up and said "We are from the American embassy and we came here because we thought we were safer here." So they made a new plan to get to the train station and they were all going to take the train and cross the border. But they had to cross the square. When they got to the square she said that there were bodies everywhere. She had a camera around her neck and she snapped a picture. A man on a bike said “ No no no!” and stole her camera. He made it a few yards away before the soldiers shot him dead for having a camera. He saved her life. They made it to the train and left the station. Some time later, as they were approaching the border, their train was stopped in the wilderness by soldiers. Apparently many Chinese citizens were on the roof of the train trying to escape. She said that from her window she could see the military pulling people down from the roof and lined them all up and shot them dead with a firing squad. Then the train was allowed to cross with the Americans and Europeans onboard. I'm 31 years old now and I will never forget that story.