Proclamation to the People

Abstract

Early this morning, hundreds of military trucks entered Beijing from different routes and rumbled toward Tiananmen Square. They were packed with officers and men of the People's Liberation Army or with arms and ammunition, such as tear gas bombs, high-pressure water cannons, rubber bullets, and guns. At the crossings, they were stopped by Beijing residents who had gotten organized voluntarily. Residents brought food and drink to the officers and men on the trucks and, with tears in their eyes, told them the truth about this patriotic democracy movement. They spoke about their anxiety over the situation, deeply moving the PLA men. The latter said that they had only received orders to stage a military exercise in the city; they knew nothing about what was carried in the trucks, even less about the fact that they were dispatched here to suppress the students and residents. They had not read a newspaper or heard a broadcast for several days. The authorities only ordered them to study over and over again the notorious Renmin ribao editorial of April 26.