The authorities in the Chinese capital Beijing have implemented strict security measures around Tiananmen Square. Thursday is the 20th anniversary of troops crushing the 1989 student protest there.

In the run-up to the anniversary, China has begun the partial censorship of broadcasts by CNN and the BBC, with screens blacking out when items on the protest are shown. Various dissidents have told foreign journalists that they have been placed under house arrest or have been taken out of the city into the countryside. Hundreds of police officers and soldiers are being deployed around Tiananmen Square itself.

On 4 June 1989, hundreds of protesters were killed when troops fired on the crowd in Tiananmen Square. Television footage broadcast around the world showed one student trying to stop the advance of a moving tank.