Chinese Activists Urging People To Wear Black To Mark Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Protest

Protests are banned in mainland China

Activists in China are taking to social media to urge the public to wear black on the 24th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown on protesters who had camped out for weeks on Tiananmen Square.

The crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989, killed hundreds, possibly more. The Chinese government has never fully disclosed what happened on that day and branded the protests a "counterrevolutionary riot." It remains a taboo topic inside the country, but the growing use of Twitter-like sites known as Weibo and other social media — although largely censored — has made it difficult for authorities to control all information about the Tiananmen crackdown.

Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said he had been appealing online for people to wear black T-shirts on Tuesday or light a candle at home on Monday evening to remember the event.