Chinese Students Defy Ban, Gather : Hundreds of Police Mass in Square; Few Protesters Held

PEKING — Several thousand Chinese students and supporters of their pro-democracy movement gathered in Peking’s Tian An Men Square early today in the first major protest demonstration in the city’s historic center in more than eight years.

The demonstrators assembled in defiance of a recent ban on demonstrations at the square--which has served as the focal point for protest movements in China throughout the 20th Century.

In public, while Chinese police were filming and photographing their movements, the demonstrators sang the Communist “Internationale” and chanted slogans like “Support the reforms.” They also chanted, “Don’t hit us” and “Don’t arrest people.”

But in the anonymity of the pressing, swirling crowd, the demonstrators spoke to reporters of their eagerness for democracy.

“Please make the rest of the world know what we are doing here. We want democracy,” said one young participant, who identified himself as a recent graduate of Peking University working in a research institute. Asked what he meant by democracy, he replied, “public elections. We want to elect our leaders.”

Hundreds of Police Massed

Chinese authorities had amassed hundreds of policemen to try to prevent the demonstration. In general, the police were handling the crowd with considrable restraint, and appeared to be under orders not to take any action that would inflame the demonstrators. However, at least four young people were seen being taken off by police.

By midday Thursday, a crowd of at least 2,000 was still gathered on the side of the square, flanked by a long line of policemen.

The last serious demonstration at Tian An Men Square was in April, 1976, when tens of thousands of Peking residents gathered to protest the failure of the Chinese leadership to commemorate properly the death of former Premier Chou En-lai.

During the 1978 “Democracy Wall” movement, there were several smaller demonstrations in the square.

Blame Put on Taiwan

Meanwhile, China sought Wednesday for the first time to blame outside forces for the recent demonstrations, suggesting that the protests are the result of an organized conspiracy and that Taiwan agents are encouraging the young participants.

In a front-page commentary in the official Communist Party organ People’s Daily, authorities lashed out also at “a certain foreign radio station” for disseminating news in Chinese about the demonstrations, apparently a reference to the Voice of America, which has a Chinese-language broadcast.

The tone of the commentary, which appeared in several other official Chinese newspapers, was markedly more negative than any previous official remarks about the demonstrations. It appeared aimed at conveying the message that the leadership’s earlier tolerance of the student protests has run out.

‘Democratic Dictatorship’

“We must insist upon the people’s democratic dictatorship, enhance our vigilance a hundredfold and expose and punish those who try to destroy the socialist system,” an unnamed spokesman for the Peking municipality was quoted as saying in the report.

In a particularly ominous note, readers were reminded that “class struggle” will continue in China for some time.

After the current Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping, came to power in 1978, the Chinese Communist Party decided that Mao Tse-tung had erred in overemphasizing the concept of continuing class struggle. Although the phrase is written into the Chinese constitution, it has rarely appeared in the Chinese press in recent years.

Earlier this week, wallposters at Peking University called on students to demonstrate for democracy today in Tian An Men Square, the huge square in the center of Peking that has served as the focal point for Chinese student protests throughout the 20th Century.

Warning to Students

The commentary published Wednesday included a blunt warning to the students to avoid Tian An Men Square.

“We intend to warn the small group of elements: You will be seriously punished if you dare to make trouble in the capital of our socialist country,” it said.

To underscore that message, Chinese television news programs Wednesday showed footage of one young person in Peking and three in Nanjing who were arrested in connection with the recent demonstrations. All were handcuffed and guarded by policemen.

Despite the warnings, hundreds of students at the university clustered around new wallposters Wednesday night, reading them by candlelight or flashlights and discussing the true road to democracy and today’s demonstration, according to the Associated Press.

The posters accused the government of failing to live up to its promises of democratic reform and urged students to take the lead in bringing freedom and democracy to China. One was signed in blood and called the present student movement “epoch-making.” It said the Communist Party is fundamentally good, but changes must be made in a nation where privilege still rules and peasants are regarded as subhuman.

Setting an Example

Peking University is China’s most prestigious and has a history of leadership in student movements. Several posters stressed that it is the responsibility of Peking University students to set an example for other campuses to follow.

The commentary in Wednesday’s People’s Daily asserted that, on Dec. 17, Taiwan’s Voice of Free China had broadcast orders to its secret agents on the mainland to “select a suitable time to take action” and “to use various means to encourage and aid young students to bravely participate in the demonstrations.”

It said also that the plans for demonstrations at Tian An Men Square were the result of “a long premeditated conspiracy.” Unnamed people were said to be establishing “secret ties” between Peking and other Chinese cities.

The Communist Party organ did not mention the Voice of America by name, but it complained that a foreign radio station had been “propagandizing” the student movement in Chinese-language programs.

Many Chinese students involved in the protests have said that they learned about events in other cities from the Voice of America. On some university campuses, posters with transcripts of Voice of America news reports about the demonstrations have been put up alongside posters calling for greater democracy and freedom.

Embraced American Ideals

During their demonstrations for democracy, some of the Chinese students have openly embraced American ideals, symbols and epigrams. A wallposter at one university quoted the words of Patrick Henry: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” In another demonstration, students carried a picture of the Statue of Liberty.

Over the last few days, in an apparent effort to counteract the students’ reverence for American ideals, the official Chinese press has revived the old Communist portrayal of the United States as a land controlled by monopoly capitalism and a handful of wealthy families like the Rockefellers, Morgans and Carnegies.

“Many youths have great interest in the capitalist model, America,” the People’s Daily said in one article Tuesday. “ . . . Because they are lacking a true understanding of the actual characteristics of capitalist democracy, they are mistaken.”