part and send us your story we are trying always to understand this new culture. another visitor another guests you want to become a citizen. in for migrants your platform for a while information. on june 4th 1009. to pro tomography demonstrators on beijing's tiananmen square a brutal crackdown to end 7 weeks of peaceful protests. the day after the massacre thousands of demonstrators were arrested sentenced and jailed dozens were executed. but

mysteriously some managed to go underground and escape. this is the story of operation yellow bird a covert effort to spirit chinese dissidents out of the country to safety and into exile abroad for years it was believed the cia was pulling strings now after years of silence the masterminds of operation yellow bird have started to reveal the details of their story a story in which france played a key role teaming up with some odd bedfellows allies. for the dissidents smuggled out of china recounts the dramatic events to change their lives forever.

the story of operation began in beijing on april the 15th 989 the day saw a vast up pouring of grief over the death of a leading communist party official. who will ban had pushed for democratic reform and for many he embodied the morning indian tendency as an opposing. party yes before his death he was ousted from the party's top position of general secretary. now all hopes of political liberalization appears dashed. this state funeral was attended by high ranking leaders of the party which by now had maintained its all for tarion grip on power for 40 years. in the fundraise dench of the country senior leader and as prime minister that leapin these 2 men had forced the album from office because he dared to advocate a more transparent political system. outside the great hall of the people

a group of students cross the police line on tiananmen square carrying a petition. down and beg the prime minister to come out and talk but their request was ignored. a wave of outrage spread across china what began as a display of sympathy for reform minded official now turned into an angry protest. the battle had begun pacing the chinese people and their calls for political and economic reform against communist party hardliners. demonstrations by students and intellectuals rose up in major cities across the country. and the young philosophy professor. side chango joined the protest movement he was ready to

fight against the censorship of his articles and for economic reform touch on growth was 34 he had a son and was close to his parents and siblings. working on his 1st book he sensed the political tide was turning. something along the way we all felt that we were at historic turning point. so are are there we carried on to the end and one launching a process of democratization in china. for all attempts at reform would be suppressed for a very long time. to think. more decade of economic liberalization china's students were receptive to front ideas and they were galvanized by the democratic reforms underway in the communist

countries of eastern europe initiated by mikhail gorbachev when the soviet leader arrived in beijing for state visits on may the 15th 1809 the world was on the threshold of a new era for me the cold war was ending. students in china wanted to be part of this historic shift towards democracy and freedom to convince that time and come they occupied chinaman square longfield as the nerve center of the ruling party. movement organized and lead as a march to 1 where question a 21 year old freshman at one of the country's most prestigious universities on the square he delivered impassioned speeches it was agreed that if the government proposed talks would lead the negotiations. moving why. i was 27 at the time she worked hard to support her young daughter and

her parents with him she lived reading across tenement square one morning she stopped her bike to talk to protesters. and she agreed to work for a dissidents radio station a move that would change the course of her life. looting quote read out articles for broadcast increasingly harsh in my condemnation of government officials and their lavish lifestyles i will cast i was starting to so i'm just a make of my the burqas or the center the leg or the speaker one people can peel make a sock so that's why i'm really active that's right yeah my does my personality i

want to show you more people to know that. soon legion while i was no longer returning home and evenings to have parents who were looking after her baby instead she stayed with her new friends sleeping in a tent. by now fountains were camped out on talent square. people in 300 cities joined the general strike. the protests were now a national crisis. china's leadership was under pressure and it was divided on how to proceed communist party hardliners wanted to restore order immediately by arresting and jailing the protest leaders who they branded as counter-revolutionaries. but moderates advocated a softer line among them young jackie a young political scientist and government advisor. she hoped to mediate and calm

the situation. she rather because she if we tried to find a peaceful solution on the party leadership was under immense pressure the 1st i tried to persuade the students to leave the square or then i changed my mind dissidents to the grounds of the communist party didn't alter its stance or good that i would side with the students' scores on the regard and her the what order which is inside the church. on may the head one month after who yonks death. and hundreds of others began a hunger strike. after 5 days the government relented. it agreed to meet a student delegation. she left the hospital where he had been admitted for treatment and went directly to talks with the prime minister paying. and right and if you don't know what. that. holiday. actually i don't.

want to. go there. the meeting was broadcast on national television and viewed around the world the events in beijing have been headlining international news for. now the whole world watched a young student berate the prime minister and intolerable insult to china's rulers 2 days later leaping declared martial law. in the way that killed it. the army was deployed in towns to come positions across the capital ready to enter students defied orders to leave chinaman square. the reform minded political scientist made a life changing decision. until then he'd have to quiet like with his wife and 15.

year old son now he resigned from all of his posts and joined the students on the square cannot moment he was made by the state as an insurgent. says if you are shot i was deeply troubled by martial law i think that same evening i issued a statement calling gun shopping a dictator and demanding his resignation. on june the 3rd 19892 weeks after the government imposed martial law. paying all the troops to take control of beijing and clear tiananmen square. residents poured out onto the streets to help protesters a wrecked barricades together they set fire to public buses to block the army advance. then any early hours of june the 4th soldiers began firing into the crowds. tied to the city and i was just giving

a speech on the square as soldiers in the streets behind us started cheering on the room for. this royal regime. within moments the dreams of an entire generation turned into a nightmare. if you i'm a course to my left i saw tanks attacking students so it really was like a war seems far more like a. city like a surrealistic movie of. show at least that. the protesters were stunned but never anticipated such minor it's. what i've expected the police club where we expect there's some bloodshed bad we didn't expect that all.

life lost one not even a person. the bloodshed left beijing reeling. students trying to count the dead estimates vary from several 100 to fountain's. function. so frankly after what i'd experienced in beijing i didn't give a damn anymore about democracy freedom victory and all 50. images of the military crackdown sent away for shock and horror around the world. while the military secured control of beijing it also used force to crush protests and other chinese cities.

and then public outrage western government slapped sanctions on beijing. government. to survive must shoot at the young people it is racist just you know homey and that stands against them in the name of freedom. for this plume such a government there has no future so really you know bit of media. china's secret police now launched a relentless hunt for activists that released photographs of the most wanted offering rewards for information leading to their arrest. they were now china's public enemy number one. when i see myself on the top of down the stairs like number 2. well ok i think

they're going to make an example. of they will try really hard to arrest me the rumor i heard in beijing is that they do not want to. arrest me a life. like the feeling of high heat man you don't have on your show you. look at those those and before they give me a leg this is not it the no that one of them me yeah the one of the me the name of the quirk how old i am where i am leaving this my hair my hair you i live in the trees and the wood of my whole i'm the tall home as my face iran the face and the skill or work on the skin away skin or something. it wasn't long before a 2nd list was compiled this one with the names of intellectuals accused of

instigating a rebellion by the college that we were scared of being arrested and we were scared of being killed without i want finding out. chango received a warning from a friend with the police contacts 40 officers were on his trail. salah she sick of that's china for you they should they do so if it decides you are the enemy you're the enemy there's nothing you can do about it. but. hong kong still a british colony offered a potential escape route for activists running for their lives it became the center of a network to smuggle dissidents out of china code name operation. among the key organizers john shand a successful film producer. and lead a young pro-democracy barrister. the baptist cleric to uming and about how.

co-founder of the alliance and support of patriotic democratic movements in china. after the resecure. recover you know from the shock and began to think. about what we should all go help the dissidents to leave. the main lead in order to escape from persecution and in order to as scape from. the hazard of being jailed of course you know we all live a long call we are all there to work with him been in charge or what we do. the producer john charm worked his contacts hong kong's entertainment industry had ties to triad gangs and economies underworld these crime syndicates were always willing to smuggle human cargo for cash a list of their chinese counterparts to coordinate escape routes across the water to hong kong. from one day to the next

the foundations of a smuggling network were put in place the 1st step involved getting the dissidents to southern china. from there they would be ferried to hong kong. and a final step flown into exile a port. it was a race against time. the hong kong group gave triad networks in beijing many names of people to be smuggled out of the country the syndicates were equipped with state of the art technology to dodge police and government agents. and they knew how to pass on secret instructions to the fugitives. erhard of people coming to mean that the seal ok i knew how rude danger we we should be give you are some dropped by you v.d. and stand a lot we have a. schedule makers make

a schedule what time you pick up you don't let you know we're literal words that i was told to go into hiding let my wife and her belongings in and wait to be contractors on. the operation proceeded quickly just a day after the massacre on channel one square a plan was already in place to get workers she out of the country he was still in a state of shock when the network contacted him a man arranged to meet him and told him to leave beijing by train. beijing train station that time is probably one of the most. secured those there are more soldiers and police than the patrons than the travellers. but we did manage to get our train wherever it is going with care if there is a train leaving beijing we should beyond that and then the president for

a passport helped us to get on the train and then we realized that train is going south so salsa this. fugitive's situation in beijing was growing increasingly dangerous. police released images of fast track trials in executions on the city streets and squares notices encouraged people to turn in protesters to police with promises of laundry awards printed alongside contact numbers. looting are only narrowly managed to escape before fleeing she risked returning home to her parents' house to say goodbye to her baby daughter she had no idea it would be 5 years before she saw her again. and more of all i hold my daughter is coming when i see a hole in the money right away and chill calls and you buy buy buy buy i just are trying to i'm verse strong tears come out but i was still told my daughter said bye bye. i don't want to see the freaks i don't want to see faces just say bye bye i

understand that i'm verse save i was told what this store i did he said you know. meanwhile war had managed to slip out of his hometown of all harm with the help of several men from an operational boat network his family stayed behind as he raced south the police hot on us heels. on the footpath and alberto we weren't scared when we were on tenement square feet. or so feet but when you're running for your life then you're scared scared to death bush a lot of them. in beijing a renowned scientist also feared arrest. funny she was an outspoken dissident who'd had contact with u.s. diplomats but when he arrived to the gates of the u.s.

embassy he was the nationally turned away. president george h.w. bush had visited beijing earlier that year and strove to maintain bilateral dialogue even after the massacre nevertheless he granted fang asylum at the u.s. mission. he stayed there for a year until china allowed him to move to the us the deal was negotiated by the us ambassador a former cia operative. china's suspected the cia was smuggling its most wanted dissidents out of the country. at the same time look at activists in hong kong began organizing the 1st step of the operation. they needed to find host countries for the rescue dissidents. the lawyer martin league was tasked with persuading representatives of various governments to accept the refugees. the 1st concert i went into was the u.s. consulate. i saw a lady there not the consul general. she was interested to help. but only

the top leaders of the student movement. she was very interested in big names like with cash a. week i see and tiling and so on so i asked her what about the people who were not so well known very dangerous that. were our relationship with china which was just getting. going. there we were the real growth in the in. trade. and it's. a good answer. except that it would be given go.

with the chinese. if we started getting people out. under the table. it was impossible for the us consol to make such a decision without the backing of the government in washington clearly the impression given to me was that they would not be welcome in the states. so i just stood up and left. the dissidents who made it to southern china and were taken to safe houses owned by members of the network some were even put up uncomfortable her touts the maffia picked up a tap. others had to sleep in student apartments under beds on the floor they always had for instructions on the next most dangerous leg of their escape crossing the border to hong kong. their yellow but activists were running out of time the 1st dissidents would be arriving from the chinese mainland any day now chinese

secret agents were hot pursuit but so far no arrangements were in place to transfer the fugitives to 3rd party countries western states were reluctant to anger china. reg somebody i knew a french diplomat in fact he viciously came out and met me in the street and i. said look we need help because. when these people are brought in to hong kong. we need some form of government to take them. take. it just take in a jam he said the australians the canadians and even the americans were stalling for time and we were their only hope that. we would need to consider allowing the dissidents to travel on france because they probably could not remain in hong kong . if you know as you know my immediate answer was yes it was

a gut reaction i hadn't thought it through a home over the hill but when you are familiar with the cumbersome workings of bureaucracy and you choose to play it safe and would rather risk an administrative hitch and choose to delay such a matter to. the french consul general was really sort of the. he only wanted. judge him on time and made a decision with wide ranging implications. in hong kong he was the only diplomat willing to take a risk to put his career on the line france could pay a high price for his decision. fast he confided in his press attache cross-walk 1st of all. though they are as sore as well this is a cry for help that we could neither respond to nor ignore spoke at a low our decision was spontaneous little souls the liquid he was in line with my

own deepest convictions of my whole human life in higher regard than to take with me when a thought. all points you make such a decision because your listening to your hardly quit and are conscious of history of. the pro-democracy activists in hong kong france has not was an important victory yet a bad had a new ally a western ally in the network was now complete. and they continue to underestimate many chinese cities operatives in hong kong prepared for the arrival of the 1st diffidence. to prepare the most dangerous part of their escape the sea crossing from mainland china organizers used a code derived from medical terms. if

a dissident was held up by police informant spoke of arthritis a skate going to plant was described by the code word heart disease. after a 2000 kilometer journey where cars she waited on the shore scouring the sea for a light signal from a boat that would smog. out of china too intense had already failed i learned as much later they said this is going to be the last attempt. if they become much more then 2 years because the chinese authority has already realized i was alerted that i could be there and been there and they have deployed much have year . border patrol. including helicopters so has to work. i was at the seashore 9 o'clock no boat.

930 no boat. 10 o'clock no boat. but 1035. the agreed signal appear on the horizon and i see. the flashlight and i said wow they're here wow great and i forgot to flashback and they say we're ok yes i have supposed to flash back and i did. and then you flashed back again so. i start to. walk into the water walk toward the light at that time at that moment i turn my head back and look at time again. and then i think i know stepping into what i don't know when would i be able to touch that soil again.

what signs from all the time had also come to leave china yes kate one afternoon on board a smuggler spent hidden with dissidents behind a truck door chinese spies were already infiltrating the smuggling network and then traps. into papa stuck in southern china the accomplices assigned to escort her never arrived. i thought i'm gong to go to the several members of the network. a meeting and been arranged at a hotel but it turned out to be a sting operation a lot who know the police were waiting for them. and they were all arrested on the large. at the time neither the french president francois mitterrand know his foreign minister would on tomorrow had any notion that diplomatic representatives

in east asia were involved in human smuggling. vice consul jumpy and on time it needed to inform his appearance at the foreign ministry in paris fast. one tiny put us trust in a network of experts on china working for the administration and powers and it worked. they secured a tacit green light from the highest levels of government. secretly a special unit was formed in paris its job was to prepare for the refugees arrival and provide them with assistance as they settled in france. code named and lease it was stopped by just a few china experts. the oh did police was made up of one or 2 diplomats and

a handful of people who hardly knew each other once in total 5 or 6 people all this happened on the periphery and in hong kong for example everything was arranged outside of administrative and governmental departments and because as one foreign minister aptly put it discretion is the cornerstone of efficiency to 60. elise was the french wing of operation yellow but its main task was finding secret accommodation for newly arrived dissidents because to begin with they would need to remain in hiding. or at all see if also then there were secret funds of the foreign ministry and they had to be used for something the dissidents need a place to stay after they arrived here and organize and that wasn't easy we work a real estate agency you we needed to find solutions so we consulted experts who are also in a position to care for the new arrivals. and help them adjust to. the

french branch of the yellow bird network prepared to receive the dissidents the 1st group of refugees was just a ride 15000 kilometers away in hong kong. where cuz she was one of the few to arrive on one of the mafia speed boats. these boats were used to smuggle all types of goods and were faster than the coast guard's boats we picked them up in a small harbor you know. the 1st arrivals were put up a network. question was taken to vice comes from one time use home. located up on victoria peak it offered a commanding view. given his notoriety and i was asked to take him to my place. above all because he was determined to fight

on to place he wanted to convene a press conference in hong kong. that could have been exceedingly dangerous so we kept him at my house under the watch of an armed guard who ensured he didn't flee. and then when i arrived in the home of french consulate general i took my 1st bass hot water bass and then i realized my body was all cut by the oysters feel that i have to swim to the boat and then i was so keen to see you water it was. open and pleaded out. however at that time i think i have filtered a sense of. security at the same time. lost . and bollards at all or parliament at all and we were hidden in

a very large ass the owner was famous and rich. confidants the media is that. the lady of the r.c.m.p. was put up at the home of one of the biggest bosses of one of the most powerful mafia triads and on gone there. are not certain whether the young young jackie was aware of that fact. is the best you're. on equal sauce. reference to wasn't charge of finding accommodation for other dissidents to you in hong kong. by lee harvey or i was given the job of finding secret and safe apartments and houses out a copy for a while so tended to the dissidents daily needs your guys sometimes i offer them comfort or advise them on how to cope with their stress their fears for their future their situation room blog. for the refugees the

period of waiting in hong kong was a relief. but they were also plagued by an society over the next step getting across hong kong's border to freedom. to that end needed the cooperation of the person shofar who controlled hong kong's borders. security it and post-office it was crucial to persuade the british to play along it is ridge so i went to a friend who was the deputy political advisor to the governor and 2 and you cause he but as i said i have where kai she's staying at my house. there are 2 options would. do if either he goes public and holds a press conference or single. or we find a way to smuggle him to france fool who basically put it at the table for. those

facilities to do that the british knew the chinese leadership society and immediately understood that beijing couldn't be made to look like the loser and. it must never emerge that the dissidents had come through hong kong. so our unity was immediately formed to with the so-called special branch and gave. immediate small specie lunch. an agent with the special branch of the hong kong police force was immediately summoned to a meeting at the house of the french consul. together. modernly jump him on tanya and force. devised a strategy. yes fisher granted we had a rigorous protocol concerning the identity of the dissidents are still as well as the identities under which they would be exiting the colony kings and all of. the 2

french diplomats were asked to supply the dissidents with fake identity papers. i led to this we gave them a last a process that's a document with a photograph of the person who's been assigned a fictitious name like you put effort to this will teach the documents states that the person has lost his passport and is a french citizen. that way they could leave hong kong with the city police to kitty . for the travel plans for the bank took photographs of every dissident he needed to take precautions. and altruistic and to call them the more he tried to make them look very ordinary the like a stereotypical trying to use person almost like a caricature of a not quite in a green cap and blue boiler suit fools i'm not a far cry from that either easy for they are did they use these little rube. we needed to make them blend in that it was. me used to make up to make them look more

photogenic can i give them a more modern look foot to should look up to. you. the french diplomats also gave the refugees a 2nd set of identity documents bearing their real names and they were given a valid visa to enter france. on the day of the panto. and this wife felt relieved to believe in hong kong but the sun was still engaging. we were reading the newspaper in hong kong and sar read headlines. only paying was calling for my execution. it was clear we had no choice left the same day we were very sad. as you watch us or want to have a. we knew we'd be leaving

a few days later to say this is the remember standing at the window that looking at our top the mountains files i thought. those are the mountains of china. i had to cry. i didn't want to leave china to my family my family my loved ones my future i never wanted to leave china and i'd never dreamed i would have to leave it i wept for a very long time to look a little down. on the day of departure a member of the british secret service met the tiananmen fugitives for a final briefing. surgeons how it will make a wife and i were given reforms of the hong kong police force. we were told to wear their fists to disguise i think as we went through customers and boarded the plane or its origins. thing for the. i think on the day a telegram was then dispatched with the names of those who'd left he said he said

that gave our friends and paris time to make arrangements to welcome them politically. as soon as they landed in paris the difference to count they need travel papers someone contacted by members of the elise group on the plane before some bucking others were approached by french secret service agents on the tarmac. a few goals along software and that's when we finally arrived in france we felt strange almost bizarre when we were glad to be alive that was the most important thing on a on it there but we weren't receptive to the people who welcomed us. we were interested in who they were things i. said the view was the but also we weren't interested in paris or the landscape on the bus. we couldn't take it in the morning at that moment exists the done the world didn't exist for us. all this is that from

all. we were very anxious about all friends when we were trying to figure out how many people died in the other hand the bad news is keep coming say. this person and that person get arrested or they're all friends and they were. but you know it's a very strange feeling when we learn someone is arrested. we're sad but also relieved. because that means they're not go. on french soil the chinaman dissidents were now political refugees their lives were no longer in danger but they had to remain in hiding. in hong kong martin in el but her continued to fight for human rights. to this day china refuses to allow before rescue dissidents to return. desperate to see his parents worker

she has tried numerous times to turn himself in to chinese authorities are brought but each time they've refused to arrest him. lives in new york 5 years after she fled china she was reunited with her daughter were no longer recognized. such ron paul is haunted by the loss of his parents who died before he could say goodbye. young jackie his son was smuggled out of china a year after his parents fled rather than joining them in washington he settled in paris.

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