china's secret services and the role they played in the square massacre i'll be back with more news at the top of the hour thanks for joining. us you have to get through the bundesliga break without football thanks again. to the women's world cup and. weeks of excitement emotion not suck. its way to 90 with. the coldest of the results here on d.w.t. s. .

on june 4th 1809 chinese troops attacked pro-democracy 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 but 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 the other but 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 that changed their lives forever. the story of operation labor 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 your bank had pushed for democratic reform and for many importing them only in tendency is an opposing. but ts 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 terry and grip on power for 14 years. in the front row bench of paying the country's senior leader and his prime minister leapin these 2 men had forced yob on 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 tiananmen 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 spray of sympathy for reform minded official now turned into an angry protest.

the battle had begun pitting the chinese people and their calls for political and economic reform against communist party hardline as. demonstrations by students and intellectuals rose up in major cities across the country. and were handed 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 such a gross $34.00 he had a son and was close to his parents and siblings. working on his 1st book he sensed the political tide was turning. or was something wrong with it 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 receptive to foreign 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 a state visit on may the 15th 1809 the world was on the threshold of a new era the cold war was ending. students in china wanted to be the cause of this historic shift towards democracy and freedom to convince that time and come they occupied chatham and square. viewed as

the nerve center of the ruling party. movement overnight just ambling as a march to 1 was where crushing 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 her she would lead the negotiations. 6 looting while was 27 at the time she worked hard to support her young daughter and her parents with him she lived reading across chatham and square one morning she stopped by to talk to protestors. and she agreed to work for a dissident 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 want cast i must start singing too so i'm just a make up my burqas are the center the leg the speaker one the people continue to make a sock so that's why i'm really active that's why i'm like yeah mike does my personality i want to choose more people to know that. soon and while there's no longer returning home and evenings to have parents who are looking after her baby instead she stayed with her new friends in a tent ringback. by now fallon's 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 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 the torch 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 for the return i changed my mind to the grounds of the communist party didn't alter its stance or good that i would side with the students in terms of the what we're going to says inside the church. and made a fetish 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 leaping. and i immediately know what. that. holiday. actually i thought. i wanted. the meeting was broadcast on national television and viewed around the world in the events in beijing have been headlining international news for weeks now the whole world watched a young student bring the prime minister an intolerable insult to china's rulers 2 days later leaping declared. martial law. will generate.

the army was deployed in tanks to come positions across the capital ready to intervene if students defied orders to leave chinaman square. ready the reform minded political scientist made a life changing decision. until then he'd have to quiet like previous wife and 15 year old son now he resigned from all of his posts and joined the students on a scrap from that moment he was paid by the state as an insurgent. says it is you i shall i was deeply troubled by martial law thing that same evening i issued a statement calling done shopping the dictator and demanding his resignation. on june the 3rd 1892 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 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. tried to disappear i was just giving a speech on the square and soldiers in the streets behind us drunks started cheering on the room. the syrian regime. within moments the dreams of an entire generation turned into a nightmare. if you cause to my left i saw tanks attacking students so it really was like a war scene there. for more like

a. city like a surrealistic movie. sure at least. the protesters were stunned they'd never anticipated such a minor. would have expected the police club where we expect there's some blood shed. we didn't expect that all. lives 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. frankly after what i'd experienced in beijing i didn't give

a damn anymore about democracy freedom or victory in all 50. images of the military crackdown sent away to 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 on him a government. hebrew letter survived most shoot at the young people it is radius just for me and that stands against them in the name of freedom it isa this all gloom such a government has no future so will you now but it near. china's secret police now launched a relentless hung. but 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 as 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. looks like he's getting a lot of high heat. if you're not funny oh yes. look

at those clothes and before they give me like this is not it the noted one of the many yeah the one of the only the name of the core of how old i am where i am living in this my in my in you i live in the trees and the wood of my whole i'm the tall home as my face is iran the face and the steel little bit 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 college that we weren't scared of being arrested you must ferret of being killed without i want to finding out of. sight chango received a warning from a friend with police contacts 14 officers were on his trail. salah she sic a gun 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. up.

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 named operation yellow bird among the key organizers john chapman a successful film producer. a young pro-democracy barrister. the baptist cleric 2 uming and albert hole co-founder of the alliance and support of patriotic democratic movement in china. after the rest of your. recover you know from the shock every game to think. about what we should all go how the dissidents to leave. the railway in order to a state problem as a fusion and in no other to escape from. the hazards of being jailed of course you

know we all live a long call we have you know that we're with invented charter but 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 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. out of the country the syndicates were quick with state of

the art technology to dodge police and government agents. and they knew how to pass on secret instructions to the fugitives. here how the people coming to me now do you see the ok you however danger we give we should we give you are some bright by you really understand the law we have a make a schedule make us one make a schedule what time you pick up you don't let you know realtors are words that i was told to go into hiding will my wife and her belongings 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 work 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 trains they submit their time is probably one of the most. secured those there are more soldiers and police on the pages than the travelers. but we did manage to get our train wherever it is going with unclear 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 so also 1st. to 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 point of alongside contact numbers. losing heart 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. aware of all i hold my daughter and please call me when i see a hole in the money right away and try to called it by the bye bye i just 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 phase i just say bye bye i understand that i'm verse save i was told what this store i did he said you know. meanwhile time chung will had managed to slip out of his home town of all harm with the help of several men from the operational bird network his family stayed behind as he raced south the police hot on us heels. of that

often are both of 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 book while for them. 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 a 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. trying to suspected the cia was smuggling its most wanted dissidents and. the country. at the same time you look at activists in hong kong

began organizing the 3rd 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 but. she was interested to help. only the top leaders of the student movement. she was very interested in big names that . week i see and child being and so on so i asked her what about the people who are not so well know who are dangerous they. were our relationship with china which was just getting.

the we will have the real growth in interest in. trade. and it's. a good answer. except that it would be to 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 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 get them to. make they could is the canadian he said the australians the canadians and even the americans were stalling for time and we were their only hoaxers we shall proceed for that we would need to consider allowing the dissidents to travel on to france because they probably could not remain in hong kong 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 it was all the. remember that the french postal general was really sort of the. only one.

jumpin on time and made a decision with wide ranging implications. in hong kong he was the only diplomat willing to take the 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 one. as well as well this was a cry for help that we could neither respond to nor ignore. our decision was spontaneous. or he was in line with my own deepest convictions i hold human life in higher regard than to take. 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 and western ally in. the network was now complete.

and they continued on rest 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 spoke of arthritis and scapegoating to plant was described by the code word heart disease. after a 2000 kilometer journey work i 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 bay said this is going to be the last attempt. if they do 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. always at the sea shore 9 o'clock no boat. nice 30 no boat. 10 o'clock no boat. turns 35. there agreed signal appear on the horizon and then i see. his flashlight and i say wow they're here wow great and i forgot to flashback and they say we're ok yes i have a supposed to flashback and i did. and then you flashback again so. i

start to araa. walk into the water walk toward the light that time at that moment i turn my head back and look at time again. and i say you know stepping into what i don't know when would i be able to touch that soil again. put sight on all the time had also come to leave china yes kate one afternoon on board a smuggler's boat hidden with other dissidents behind a truck door chinese spies were already infiltrating the smuggling network and laying traps. clue to pop was stuck in southern china the accomplices assigned to escort her

never arrived. i thought long or short for the several members of the network will haunt. a meeting had been arranged at a hotel but it turned out to be a sting operation a lot to go where ya know the police were waiting for them hold on till they were all arrested for but it was a large order. at the time neither the french president francois mitterrand know his foreign minister who down tomorrow had any notion that that diplomatic representatives in east asia were involved in human smuggling. vice consul jumpy and one time they needed to inform his appearance of the foreign ministry in paris fast. antone put his 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 level 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 at least it was stopped by just a few china experts. who did a lease 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 for because as one foreign minister aptly put it discretion is the cornerstone of efficiency 60. at least was the french wing of operation yellow back to its main task was finding secret accommodation for newly arrived diffidence because to begin with they would

need to remain in hiding. or fidel 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 organizing that wasn't easy as 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 to. a lot of wealth us old oss that's. why 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 case leddy where case she was one of the few to arrive on one of the mafia speedboats the these boats were used to smuggle all types of goods and were faster

than the coast guard boats we picked them up in a small harbor. the 1st arrivals were put out of network. she was taken to vice consul montana's home. locations up on the touring peak had 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 the 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 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 have filtered a sense of. security at the same time. last. count bollards at all or parliament at all and we were hidden in a very large charts the owner was famous and rich. confidants the media is that josh was soon. after he was put up at the home of one of the biggest bosses of one of the most powerful mafia triads a noncom that. i'm not certain whether the young young jackie was aware of that fact. is best your. only course dos. reference you 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 guard sometimes i offer them comfort or advise them on how to cope with their stress their fears for their future her situation to be borg ready. for the refugees the period of waiting in hong kong was a relief. but they were also plagued by unsightly over the next step getting across hong kong's border to freedom. to that end needed the cooperation of the british are far sees 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 a jew and you can see but as i said i have where question is staying at my house. there are 2 options would. do if either he goes public and holds a press conference or shingle fills or. we find a way to smuggle him to france fool who basically put it at the table for. those facilities to do this she 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 with the so-called special branch and again. immediate small species branch. 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. jump him on tanya and francois devised a strategy. yes official granted we had a rigorous protocol concerning the identity of the dissolute signal 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 loss 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 you a key to the document states that the person has lost his passport and is a french citizen. that way they could leave hong kong with as he put it to t.t. . but the trouble comes from stuff once upon took photographs of every dissident he

needed to take precautions. and all twerking 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 cap and blue boiler suit fools they are not a far cry from that either he's for they are the they use a nice little room we needed. make them blend in that it was. me used makeup to make them look more photogenic can i give them a more modern look for it to should look up the. year. difference 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 that the poncho jockey and us wife felt relieved to believe in hong kong but the sun was still engaging.

we were reading the newspaper in hong kong and saw our read headline. really 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 see the seals as i remember standing at the window looking out at the mountainside nail 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 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 took a little down. on the day of departure

a member of the british secret service met the tiana many fugitives 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 outfits to disguise i see as we went through customers and boarded the plane with origins. thing for the. feature that i didn't go on. day a telegram was then just batched with the names of those who'd left he he said he said that gave our friends and paris time to make arrangements to welcome them and he's a king. as soon as they landed in paris the difference to count they need travel papers someone contacted by members of the a nice group on the plane before some bucking others were approached by french secret service agents on the tarmac. of his own phone software and that's when we finally arrived in france we felt strange almost bizarre. we were glad to be alive

that was the most important thing on a on it but we want receptive to the people who welcomed us. we were interested in who they were you said the viewer last about also we weren't interested in paris or the landscape on the bus. we couldn't take it into the mall at that moment exist the dog world didn't exist for us. oh this is a fun long. we were very anxious about old friends when we were trying to figure out how many people died i would be underhand 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 chinaman dissidents were now political refugees the lives were no longer in danger but they had to remain in hiding. in hong kong nationally in al but continue to fight for human rights. to this day china refuses to allow the for rescue dissidents to return. desperate to see his parents worker she has tried numerous times to turn himself into chinese authorities are brought but each time refused to arrest him. neutered polyps in new york 5 years after she fled china she was reunited with her daughter who non-directed gonna start. such a war is haunted by the loss of his parents who died before he could say goodbye. he enjoyed his son was smuggled out of china a year after his parents fled rather than joining them in washington he settled in

paris. to go africa. back to the theater winston churchill family has become wondering how . it's possible ecological revolution in southern africa abolishing fenced in grazing lands keeps oil from becoming depleted and protects the habitats of wild animals setting ancient skill that's a contribution to a sustainable future. demonspawn d.w. .

with different languages we fight for different things that's fine but we all stick up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of press. giving freedom of choice go. who's that matters w. made for moderns quadriga international talk show me to tumultuous week in german politics in europe resolved bitter divisions over migration the government it is said stead into the abyss could friendly fire from president trump defeat one of the strongest military alliances in history point out all my guests have to say on puerto rico. margarita d w.

this is news of live from berlin huge protests take place in hong kong hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets to demand the repeal of a law that could see people extradited to mainland china to face charges also coming up. around 100 people are arrested in cars out stannis they speak out against that country's presidential election saying the outcome is not in doubt. and the italians inflicts some last minute pain on australia at the women's world cup leaving.