"They've been in contact a few times already, and I have to leave town for June 4," Zha, who once tried to stand as an independent candidate against the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in local People's Congress elections, told RFA. "I can't stay here in Beijing over the next few days, just like every year on June 4," he said. "I will have to leave town for CCP centenary on July 1 as well."
The Tiananmen Mothers victims' group of more than 100 family members issued its annual statement on Monday, calling on the CCP to move ahead with compensation, a historical reassessment of the 1989 student movement and subsequent massacre of unarmed civilians by the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and for those responsible to be brought to justice. «June 4, 1989, the People's Liberation Army dispatched tanks and soldiers with live ammunition to shoot and crush to death unarmed students and residents of Beijing,» the group said.