for you here and it's a farce 30 years since the chinese government's carried out a bloody crackdown on student protesters to tiananmen square security has been stepped up around the square in central beijing where the massacre took place. and there's more coming up about tiananmen in operation gallo bird a documentary about the secret network that spirited dissidents out of china. more. school in the jungle. the 1st economy lots of. doors grandma always arrives in the join your regular chain on her journey back to freedom in the in our interactive documentary tour of the no regulating returns home news on the d w dot com tanks.

on june 4th 1909 chinese troops attacked pro-democracy demonstrators on beijing's tenement 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 bud 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 yardbird 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. full of the dissidents smuggled out of china recounts the dramatic events that changed their lives forever. the story of operation began in beijing on april the 15th $989.00 the day saw a vast outpouring of grief over the death of a leading communist party official. who will ban had pushed for democratic reform as for many embody them only in tendency is in opposing. but 2 years before his death he was ousted from the party's top position of general secretary. now all hopes of political liberalization appear dashed. this state funeral was attended by

high ranking leaders of the party which by now had maintained its all for terry engraved on our 14 years. in the front row dench of paying the country's 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 crossed the police line on shannon and square carrying a petition they knelt down and begged the prime minister to come out and talk but their request was ignored. a wave of outrage spread across china what began as a splay of sympathy for reform minded official now turned into an angry protest.

the battle had begun pitting the chinese people and i calls for political and economic reform against communist party hardliners. demonstrations by students and intellectuals rose up in major cities across the country. and more han the young philosophy professor sighed chango joined the protest movement he was ready to fight against the censorship of his articles and for economic reform such anger was $34.00 he had a son and was close to his parents and siblings. working on his 1st book he sensed the political time it was turning. all a sudden wrong way we all felt that we were at a historic turning point as you. saw our there we carried on to the end and won

launching a process of democratization in china. for all attempts at reform would be suppressed for a very long time. to think. after a decade of economic liberalization china's students were assumptive to foreign ideas and they were galvanized by the democratic reforms underway in the communist countries of eastern europe and this year it had been a call gorbachev when the soviet leader arrived in beijing for state visits on may the 15th 989 the world was on the threshold of a new era the cold war was ending. the students in china wanted to be part of this historic shift towards democracy and freedom convinced that time it come they occupied chinaman square. long viewed as the nerve

center of the ruling party. movement organized and lead as a march to 1 was 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 because she would lead them because she ations. looting why was 27 at the time she worked hard to support her young daughter and her parents with him she lived reading across chan and square one morning she stopped by to talk to protestors. 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 don't broadcast i was started singing too so i'm just a make up my burqas or the center the leg or the speaker wanna keep the complete you make the stock so that's what i'm really active that's why i'm like yeah my cousin my personality i want to show you more people to know that. soon fall is 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 ringback. by now thousands were camped out on talent square. people in 300 cities. has 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 they branded as counter-revolutionaries. but moderates advocated a softer line among them young jockey a young political scientist and government advisor he hoped to mediate and calm the situation. surrounding good coach if we tried to find a peaceful solution the party leadership was under immense pressure at 1st i tried to persuade the students to leave the square where they were then i changed my mind for the grounds of the communist party didn't alter its stance or good that i would side with the students and who the what order which is inside the church. on may the head tilts 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 weka she left the hospital where he'd been admitted for treatment and went directly to talks with the prime minister only paying. i. know what. that well. actually i don't know. anything was broadcast on national television and viewed around the world the events in beijing have been headlining international media. now the whole world watched a young student berate the prime minister an intolerable insult to china's rulers 2 days later leaping declare. martial law. little silly.

little. by little. the army was deployed in towns to come positions across the capital ready to enter loomis didn't 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. from that moment he was viewed by the state as an insurgent. says it's you i shall i was deeply troubled by martial law thing that same evening our issued a statement calling dung shopping the dictator and demanding his resignation. on june the feds 9892 weeks after the government imposed martial law on shopping

ordered troops to take control of beijing and clear tiananmen square. residents poured out onto the streets to help protesters erect 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. charging the city and i was just curious speech on the square one of soldiers in the streets behind us drunk started cheering on the room for. us or you wish. within moments the dreams of an entire generation turned into a nightmare and. even among course to my left i saw tanks attacking students so it really was like a war scene. for more.

like a surrealistic movie. sure at least. the protesters were stunned but never anticipated such violence. would have expected the police club where we expect there's some blood shed. we didn't expect or. life lost one not even a person. in the bloodshed left beijing reeling. students trying to count the dead estimates vary from several 100 to fountain's. function mock up sufficient frankly after what i'd experienced in beijing i didn't

give a damn anymore about democracy freedom or victory in all 50. and i just 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 an abrupt chinese cities. and then public outrage western government slapped sanctions on beijing. a government. led to survive must shoot at the young people it is radius just for me and that stands against them in the name of freedom. for this order in such a governor it has no future so really you know but it near. china's secret police now wants to relentless high. activists had 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 the list it's like number 2 i said well ok i think they're going to make an example. of that 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. they keep let me eat a lot of high heat man if you're not on your show you should.

look at those clothes and before they give me like this is not it the noted one of the many yeah the one of them me the name of the quirk how old i am where i'm leaving this in my in my in you i live in the arteries and the ones of my whole i'm the tall home as my face is iran the face and the skill libya will come askin a white 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 caller that we weren't scared of being arrested and we were scared of being killed without i want finding out of. chango received a warning from a friend with the police contacts 14 officers were on his trail. salish . 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.

then 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. a young pro-democracy barrister. a baptist cleric to humane and albert hall co-founder of the alliance and support of patriotic democratic movements in china. after the rest of your family recover you know from the shock every game to think. about what we should all know how the dissidents to lead. the way led in order to a state problem persecution and in order to a state from. the hazards of being in jail of course you know we all live

a long call we have no network within minutes chart or what we do. the producer john charm worked his contacts hong kong's entertainment industry have ties to triad gangs and economies underworld these crime syndicates what always willing to smuggle human cargo for cash they enlisted 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 abroad. it was a race against time the hong kong group gave triad networks in beijing the names of people to be smug. called out of the country he said the kits 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. in or out of people coming to me now to see the ok i knew how danger we give we should we give you some dropped by you we stand a lot we have a make a schedule biggest one make a schedule what time you pick up you they'll let you know we're literal words that i was told to go into hiding let my wife and her belongings he was in and wait to be contractors on. the operation proceeded quickly just a day after the massacre on channel one square the plan was already in place to get work and 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. they do to his face in the dead time is probably one of the malls. secured those there are more soldiers and police than the patrons than the travelers. but we did manage to get our train wherever it is going with and here if there is a train leaving beijing which should be on 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 1st. 2 fugitives the 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 large rewards printed along side contact numbers. looting haw and merrily 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. aware of all holding my daughter as a policeman comes when i see a hole in the money right away and children called it by the bye bye i juz are trying to i'm verse strong inside her 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 face i just say bye bye i understand that i'm verse save i was told what this storm i really said you know. meanwhile time chung will had managed to slip out of his hometown of all harm with the help of several men from the operational oberg network his family stayed behind as he raced south the police hot on us heels. nothing

on our birth 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 while for the police. in beijing a renowned scientist also feared arrest. finally she was an outspoken dissident who'd had contact with u.s. diplomats but when he arrived at 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 found 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. trying to suspected the cia was smuggling its most wanted dissidents. become treat. at the same time you look at activist in hong kong began

organizing the 1st step of the operation. they needed to find host countries for the rescue dissidents. the i am not an elite 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 there with. a week i see and child living and so on so i asked her what about the people who are not so well known who are dangerous that. were our relationship with china which was just getting.

we were having real growth in the tree in. trade. and is. a good answer. except that it would go. with the chinese. if we started getting people out. under the table. it was impossible for 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 towels 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 initially came out and met me in the street and i talked to him i said look we need help because. when these people are brought in to

hong kong. we need some form of government to get them to. make take good is just take in again he said the australians the canadians and even the americans were stalling for time and we were their only hope that as we shall proceed through that we would need to consider allowing the dissidents to travel on to france because they probably could not remain in hong kong is still if you know as you know my immediate answer was yes it was a gut reaction is that i hadn't thought it through all over the hill but when you are familiar with the cumbersome workings of bureaucracy and the poor don't you choose to play it safe and would rather risk an administrative hitch and choose to delay such a matter to do appreciate. the french consul general was really sort of the. he only wanted.

jumpin on time and made a decision with wide ranging implications. in hong kong he was the only diplomat willing to take a risk he put his career on the line france could pay a high price for his decision fast he confided in his press attache. the v.a.r. as well as this was a cry for help that we could neither respond to nor ignore. our decision was spontaneous that he was in line with my own deepest convictions are old human life in higher regard than a tank of men the. whole point is you know you make such a decision because you are listening to your hardly and are conscious of history and. the pro-democracy activists in hong kong france's know it was an important victory yet a bad. had a new ally

a western ally. the network was now complete. and they continued on dressed in 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 smoke of arthritis and a skate going to plant those described by the code word heart disease. after a 2000 kilometer journey work on she waited on the shore scouring the sea for a light signal from a boat that would smuggle him out of china and 2 attempts had already failed i

learned this much later they said this is going to be the last attempt. if they get it become much more dangerous because the chinese authority has already realized i was alerted that i could be there and they have deployed much have year. border patrol including helicopters so as to work. i was at the seashore 9 o'clock noble. line certainly no boat. 10 o'clock no boat. on. turns 35. there agreed a signal appear on the horizon and i see. a flashlight and i say wow they're here wow great and i forgot to flash back and they say we're ok yes i have 4. supposed to flash back and i bet. i mean you flashback 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 tried again. and i think you know stepping into what i don't know when would i be able to touch that soil again. what size chunk all the time had also come to leave china yes kate one afternoon on board a smuggler's boat hidden with other dissidents behind the truck door chinese spies were already infiltrating the smuggling network and then traps. putin paul was stuck in southern china the accomplices assigned to escort her never

arrived. i thought gong will go to the several members of the network will haunt. a meeting it been arranged at a hotel but it turned out to be a sting operation a lot to know the police were waiting for them hold on time they were all arrested 4 people wanted the large order. at the time neither the french president francois mitterrand know his foreign minister while on the market had any notion that that diplomatic representatives in east asia were involved in human smuggling. vice consul was on pm on tania needed to inform his superiors of the foreign ministry in paris fast. one tiny put his trust in a network of experts on china working for the administration and farce and it worked. they secured a tacit green light from the high. this level of government. secretly

especially units 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 so did police was made up of one or 2 diplomats and a handful of people who hardly knew each other in total 5 or 6 people all this happened on the periphery and in hong kong for example and everything was arranged outside of administrative and governmental departments and because as one foreign minister aptly put it discretion is the cornerstone of efficiency it's just. a lease 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. all it all see if there were a secret from the foreign ministry and they had to be used for something the dissidents needed place to stay after they arrived here and organizing that wasn't easy we work in real estate agents 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. well this year old oss that's. why the french branch of the yellow bed network prepared to receive the dissidents the 1st group of refugees was just to ride 15000 kilometers away in hong kong. where case she led the where case she was one of the few to arrive on one of the mafia speed boats the. these boats were used to smuggle all types of goods. and

we're faster than the coast guard boats we picked him up in a small harbor you know. the 1st arrivals were put up in the homes of network. she was taken to vice consul montana's home. commanding view. given his notoriety i was asked to take him to my place. above all because he was determined to fight on the field to play 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 that he didn't flee. and then when i arrived in the home of the 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. that time i think i feel to a sense of. security at the same time. last. fall or just all the palm beach at all and we were hidden in a very large charts the owner was famous and rich as our confidence in india is that joshua was late he 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. yes yes he. only question was. reference to wasn't charge of finding

accommodation for other dissidents to you in hong kong. hong kong nobody can buy a harley 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 now on how to cope with their stress their fears for their future their situation to reboard. for the refugees the period of waiting in hong kong was a relief. but they were also plagued by anxiety over the next step getting across hong kong's border to freedom. to that and yellow bird needed the cooperation of the person shaw forcings who controlled hong kong's borders.

security and talk 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 i joined you cause he because i said i have where kai she's staying at my house. there are 2 options. defy there he goes public what and holds a press conference or we think of. or we find a way to smuggle him to france for who basically put it but he will fill. those facilities to do that the british knew the chinese leadership psyche and immediately understood that beijing couldn't be made to look like the loser in the deal did it must never emerge that the dissidents had come through hong kong. so our unit was immediately formed to with the so-called special grange and piggy. 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. young pm on tania and 4. devised a strategy. yes fishing grounds that we had a rigorous protocol concerning the identity of the dissidents you do 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 his 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 document 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 t.t. . but the trouble comes from store fronts

a bank took photographs of every dissident he needed to take precautions. and all 20 of the green that you have to call them the more you tried to make them look very ordinary the like a stereotypical trying to use person almost like a caricature and they're not quite in a green camp or in blue boiler suit fools i'm not a far cry from the idea they're easy for they are deep they use a nice little rupie. 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 for the. year. difference diplomats also gave the refugees a 2nd set of identity documents bearing their real names they were given a valid visa to enter france. on the day that the pontiff. and his wife felt relieved to believe in hong kong but the son didn't broaching.

were. going to be. 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. we knew we'd be leaving a few days later to say this is theirs i remember standing at the window looking out at the mountains 5 i thought. those are the mountains of china. i had to cry. i didn't want to leave china to my family my family all 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. on the day of departure

a member of the british secret service met the chinaman fugitive's for a final briefing. surgeons how or whether they are good my wife and i were given uniforms of the hong kong police force. we were told to wear their feeds to disguise i think as we went through customers and boarded the plane or its origins how. for that. there are features that. to decompile day a telegram was then dispatched with the names of those who had 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 dissidents took out they need travel papers someone contacted by members of the a nice group on the plane before disembarking others were approached by french secret service agents on the tarmac. a few valves ones off air and that's when we finally arrived in france we felt strange almost bizarre or if 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 weren't interested in who they were things i. said the view was that 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 a time long. we were very anxious about old friends when we were trying to figure out how many people died. the other hand hold 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

relief. because that means they're not go. on french soil the tiananmen dissidents were now political refugees their lives were no longer in danger but they had to remain in hiding. in hong kong martin lee 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 herself in to chinese authorities are brought but each time they've refused to arrest him. neutered polyps in new york 5 years after she fled china she was remarkable her daughter can own a recognized. such envoy 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. the lifeline of can access is that. the original spell except for texas. along the caribbean amazon. the river still runs its natural course. of the county's government has big plans to develop the region. to the fore of environmentalists and indigenous peoples. close up in the.

coffee. ranks number one and defending world champions jean usa. what makes the u.s. women's national soccer team so good how did they become so popular back on. the favorites for the 2019 women's world cup. if the team in dublin. needs to know a sex phone operator who works her masters thesis on the potato. to me. not to turn on well it's more words it was from there that the truest professionally trained.

this is the news coming to you live from on the 30th anniversary of the tiananmen square massacre defiance from a victim of the pledge that followed. the president when i expelled me from the party they liberated me my brain and my mouth are free today. we talk to a father and son who are determined just.