this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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French Art historian Nathalie Trouveroy shared footage with Le Monde from her personal archives of the Tiananmen Square protests, shedding new light on how the Chinese regime violently repressed the student protests in June 1989.

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The linked article contains a video (17 min). Here is an invidious link to this video with the comments being in French.

[...]

The analysis of previously unseen images obtained by "Le Monde" and leading testimonies provide a better understanding of how the Chinese regime gradually shifted to the violent repression of the student demonstrations in the spring of 1989.

Spring 1989, Tiananmen Square. At the heart of the student demonstrations, a young expatriate, Nathalie Trouveroy, films the Beijing protesters, their slogans, their enthusiasm and their fear with her Hi8 video camera. These images, which remained in a family setting for a long time, are unpublished archives obtained by Le Monde.

Her husband, Guy Trouveroy, was then a political adviser at the Belgian Embassy in Beijing. For seven weeks, the couple were privileged witnesses to the regime's hesitation, torn between dialogue, obstruction and repression of the demonstrators. When the movement turns in favour of democratic measures, the communist government sends tanks against the population. On the night of 3-4 June 1989, the massacre took place. The repression would spread throughout China.

Since then, the Chinese authorities have been trying to erase Tiananmen from the collective memory. But, thirty-eight years later, Nathalie Trouveroy's never-before-seen video and photo archives have come to light. With these family images, the Trouveroy couple intend to preserve the memory of the victims of the bloody repression of the Tiananmen movement.

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[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 39 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

For french people passing by, did you know we also had a Tiananmen-like massacre in 1967 in France resulting in more than 100 protesters being killed and their bodies being stolen and disposed by authorities ?

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Horrible, but at least it's reported by the press without an authoritarian regime repressing it and persecuting journalists.

[–] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 13 points 3 weeks ago

Evil governments are inevitable. The power of democracy and free speech/free press is that it allows us to easily know about it, fight them, and eventually confine or remove them. As long as we protect these things, we have a chance. Once they're lost, the fight against evil becomes much harder.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The French still protest. They protest really quickly and we should all learn from them.

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[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

For the non-francophones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Guadeloupe_riots

Also, while legally the island of Guadeloupe is part of France, it is one of the overseas departments and regions (i.e. a colony), in the Caribbean, not part of mainland France. Just to be clear to people who are not familiar with France's governance who might be misled by "in France".

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 30 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Oh god, tankies are going to swarm like ants on this post doing mental gymnastics about how Tianamen didn't happen, or it wasn't as bad as it is portrayed to be, or whataboutism!

[–] LavenderBreton@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 weeks ago

As an anarcho-communist, I do my best to not engage with full-on tankies.

[–] nomy@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 weeks ago

Onty clicked into this for the somersaults.

They're working overtime

[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 3 points 3 weeks ago

Lol if you look at the video you know there is nothing exceptional in it.

[–] im_fine_sandy@nord.pub 24 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

YouTube doesn't work. Can you upload it to PeerTube?

[–] alapakala@quokk.au 7 points 3 weeks ago

Mais bien sûr, voilà: Tiananmen Square: Unseen footage reveals how the Chinese regime turned to violent repression — @LeMondeInEnglish

Transcoding in progress
Your video file is being processed.This can take a while and some features may not be available until it is complete.

[–] Ferrous@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Her footage has literally zero cases of any sort of violence being carried out against protestors.

[–] jumjummy@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Yeah, there was so little violence and nothing happened so hard that the Chinese government has spent decades suppressing all information from its citizens.

.ml just shows how fucking deranged you all are.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 weeks ago

It's like the onion: I only see the domain after some incredu-larity has ensued.

[–] Ferrous@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago

Strawman. I'm talking about the video in question. Don't try to to distract.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

13:55 shows soldiers next to bodies, covering some with tarps. A bit earlier we see bloodied protestors being carried away to receive medical attention by other protestors.

[–] Ferrous@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago

13:55 shows soldiers next to bodies, covering some with tarps

Can you share the screenshot? All I see is video footage of a laptop screen with an extremely grainy truck. The lady's verbal testimony is all we have for confirmation. And, this still does not show any violence being carried out against protestors. Just some vague images.

A bit earlier we see bloodied protestors being carried away

That is not her footage.

[–] crapwittyname@feddit.uk 8 points 3 weeks ago

So just the 3000 or so murders we already know about, then.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

HAAHHAHAHAHAHHAA

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 4 points 3 weeks ago

Nobody in this thread nor op watched the video, why would they, they already know everything they need to about the incident.

[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah nothing so exceptional in the documentary, in France they killed as much during yellow jackets protests. The reportage even told that the number is exaggerated...

I start to think the tieneman square was a protest going awry which was blown out of proportion. Je policite shot people with explosive and mortar in France when they decided to remove them from a aéroport expansion area. The videos are far far far worse than these. Hundred of people hurts, many killed too.

It seem to confirm the version that there was death by tank but not in th square but on a bridge.

[–] crapwittyname@feddit.uk 20 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

What? The yellow jackets protests went on for 2 years and the death toll was 11. The tiananmen square massacre went on for two days and the death toll was over 200 by the Chinese government's own admission, with the true figure likely in the thousands.

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[–] Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

Lmao. No mention of the protestors lynching and burning cops and soldiers beforehand?

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 49 points 3 weeks ago (20 children)

That would be weird since China claims it simply didn't happen. Kinda hard to claim self defense and "that didn't happen" at the same time.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago

Nonsense. Changing your beliefs is a natural part of tankie ideology. You can't be cornered in an argument if you say something completely different every comment.

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[–] duckshuffgoose@lemmy.ml 22 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

What kind of take is this? Fuck cops and fuck soldiers

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

Tankies like nonconfrontational have no interest in honesty.

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[–] bjc@scribe.disroot.org 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

incredible. i hope you’re paid well

[–] Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not a big fan of history, I see.

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Your made up version of history or reality?

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[–] mabeledo@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (15 children)

Wumaos are notoriously underpaid.

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[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 10 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Gotta lick the boot eh red fash.

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 5 points 3 weeks ago

Based if true

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] qwookah@piefed.social 3 points 3 weeks ago

Didn’t expect that

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