One of the most remarkable images to come out of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 25-years-ago was that of the lone man standing in front of the charging line of tanks. Remember the man who became known as “tank man.”?
The iconic photo was taken on June 5, 1989, almost 25-years-ago to this date and the indelible image is one not many that were old enough to remember can ever forget.
In an interview published in The Guardian, Stuart Franklin from Magnum Photos — one of the men who captured the historic photograph — recalls how the events of that day unfolded in Tiananmen Square.
Image by Stuart Franklin
At the start, the Tiananmen Square demonstrations had a festive atmosphere about them, with people gathered at the popular plaza — a rare occurrence in China — to protest the ruling government, something even more unusual.
Protesters had put out posters and wheeled out a gigantic statue that became known as “the Goddess of Democracy”, something similar to the Statue of Liberty, here in the US.
Before the crackdown — after weeks of protests — Franklin remembers things changing dramatically, when tanks started rolling in on demonstrators at Tiananmen Square and troops arrived from all directions converging on them.
[Image by Stuart Franklin]
“I witnessed the troops moving into the square and clearing out the protesters on the night of June 4. I left in the early hours of June 5 with Newsweek photographer Charlie Cole and we headed back to our hotel.”
“I was on a balcony with a group of other photographers and journalists when we saw the man jump in front of the tank on 5 June. That image has now become so iconic – but what drove its impact was the fact that people had seen the man moving in front of the tanks on TV, as well as footage of the violent crackdown the night before. The still photographs that a few of us took of that ‘tank man’ scene seemed unremarkable to me, only because I was so far away on that balcony.”
Image by Peter Turnley
Franklin recalls that a lot of the foreign journalists at Tiananmen Square missed the “tank man” moment because they had moved to other places to look for better food, as the meals prepared at their hotel were not that great.
Ironically, those looking for a more “American” food missed out on the last peaceful moments of the Tiananmen Square protests, before things turned into a massacre 25-years-ago this week and “tank man” defied the Chinese military.
Image by Jacques Langevin
Where were you the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre?
[Image via Stuart Franklin]
Tiananmen Square Massacre Pictures: One Of The Journalists Behind The ‘Tank Man’ Image is a post from: The Inquisitr News
Tiananmen Square Massacre Pictures: One Of The Journalists Behind The ‘Tank Man’ Image
No comments:
Post a Comment