China marks Tiananmen protests; U.S. critical

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China marks 20 years on Thursday since the bloody June 4 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters around Tiananmen Square, but the day is likely to pass largely peacefully, with troops and police ready to stifle unrest.

Tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square before dawn on June 4, 1989, to crush weeks of student and worker protests around the landmark. The ruling Communist Party has never released a death toll and fears any commemoration of the crackdown could undermine its hold on power.

The China of 20 years ago is very different from that of today. A booming economy on the back of market-driven reforms has put money in hundreds of millions of people's pockets.

The 1989 killings severely bruised relations between Washington and Beijing, and there were echoes of those tensions on the eve of the anniversary.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded on Wednesday that China account for those killed. Clinton also urged China to release those still imprisoned over the protests.

"A China that has made enormous progress economically and is emerging to take its rightful place in global leadership should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal," Clinton said in a statement.

In a sign of Beijing's mix of confidence and caution, Tiananmen Square was open to visitors early on Thursday, but with hundreds of police and guards present. On the 10th anniversary of the crackdown in 1999, the square was closed to the public.

Chinese crowded the square to watch the dawn flag-raising ceremony that is now a fixture of official patriotic ritual. Many were visitors from outside Beijing and appeared oblivious to the sensitive date. There were no gestures of protest.