World News for Students of English

08-06-2020 15:00

The Tiananmen Square protests were students-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, in 1989.

The protests started on April 15, and they were forcibly stopped on June 4, when troops and tanks fired at the protesters. It is estimated that several thousand people died in the massacre.

For the first time in 30 years, an annual vigil for victims of the event will not be held in Hong Kong. Hong Kong police said that the decision to cancel the event was due to concerns that the gathering would increase the spread of the coronavirus.

Last week, Beijing approved a new national security law, which gives the government more power to suppress activities that could lead to overturning the Chinese government in Hong Kong. Some critics said that the coronavirus was an excuse to avoid possible protests against the new law.

Difficult words: massacre (the brutal killing of many people), vigil (an event when people stay in a place quietly and they pray), suppress (to forcibly stop), overturn (to change the legal state of something).

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