tiananmen square years agogo iss in is going to join a beijing is working hard was tried race all of the of what really happenened on the second day of his visit in dononald trump p theresa may

>> also coming up tonight, ukraine's new president asked to help bring peace to eastern ukraine. he says the eu must ramp up pressure on moscow to end the conflict with russian backed rebels. i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs on the united states and around the world, welcome. today is the 30th anniversary of the tiananmen square massacre in beijing. the day when this image was seared into our collective memory. that iconic photo of a lone man

facing down a column of tanks. a heroic act of defiance. it took place in the spring of 1989 when students demanded new reforms and freedoms from the communist government. their hopes for economic and social change were rejected by the regime. the chinese government declared martial law and in the early hours of june 4, 1989, troops move in and crushed the protests. on sunday, the chinese defense ministry said that the crackdown had been the right thing to do. for decades, chinese authorities have tried to keep the event out of history books and punished those who commemorated it. dw met a father and son who are trying their best to keep alive the memory. >> he is a book publisher in hong kong. >> in 1989, i was a fourth-year

student in university. i was not very interested in society. whenever but it went to tiananmen square, i just went to have a look. everybody went there. >> what he saw there changed his life. students were morning a reform miminded lear ousted two yeyears prr. soon, they started raising more issues. >> i had an argument with my father. he already said if the students continueue, this might lead to bloodshed. i did not agree. >> he was then a high-ranking official. >> i did not notice it end in tragedy, but i knew it was a difficult situation. >> he had been a close aide to the successor. he was also a reformer and

wanted dialogue with students, but the conservative prime minister favored a hard-line approach. >> i was not interested in my father's work. i do not care what he was doing in the government. >> what the sun did not know is that another man was in control. china's senior leader had retired from most duties. >> the whole country new, the students knew. >> over the next few weeks, the students became more and more radical. they demanded negotiations, some went into a hunger strike. >> everybody had a feeling that we would win, because everybody supported us. that is what i saw in the square.

but when i came home, t there ws a deeply pessimistic atmosphere. >> on may 18, he instructed the government to declare martial law. the reformers in the party had lost. he disappeared frorom public viw and spend the rest of his life under house arrest. >> i prepared for an investigation, but i didn't know they would investigate me in prison. >> he was detained a week. a week l later, tanks -- >> when they started shooting, i thought they were shooting in the air. then people were rushing the wounded and the hospitals. that is when i understood they were killing people. >> he left the country shortly thereafter and became a publisher of critical l books.

>> for me, the events of 1989 are still like an open wound. >> he was released after eight yearars in prison. he remains u under constant surveillance. >> when they expelled me, they liberated me. my brain and my mouth are free today. >> father and a son cannot talk often. he is allowed to visit once a year and some years, not at all. brent: add to the story the fact that in china, most people do not even know about the events, because of skate -- state censorship. you went online and use a search engine to find out what you could about tiananmen square. what happened? >> in china, any discussion

about tiananmen square is censored by the government. they have a list of keywords that they declared sensitive. if you use those words, your content will not show up. a chinese speaking comic here did a search on the chinese equivalent of twitter and searched for the date and you get no results. this is the same if you search for other keywords to do with tiananmen square, the massacre. the tiananmen incident. you get nothing. wikipedia has recently been completely shut down. they used to be a chinese language version of them. now, all language versions are blocked in china. many chinese people, especially born after 1989, just don't know about the event because the information is not available. brent: are they able to get

around this censorship? >> there are a lot of creative people out there and there is a good instagram account where a group of researchers have archived these posts and some peoplese code words to get around this so they don't have to use these sensitive keywords. other people play with pictures. we have the famous tank man photo. they photoshop out the tanks and replace them with rubber ducks. brent: does that stay? >> it gets a little more time before the sensors find it, but eventually will be taken down. the other thing is people use non-chinese platforms. facebook and twitter are blocked in china, but a lot of people use a vpn, which is a way to hide your geographical location

and because of that, twitter has become one of the most important platforms when it comes to dissent in china. brent: it is amazing the level of censorship. it is important to know, if you can watch us in china, you cannot see this report, because that part is lacked out by the sesensors. we appreciate your reporting. now, to the u.k., where u.s. president donald trump is on day two of a controversial state visit. for second day, thousands of taken to the streets in protest. trump labeling reports of those protests fake news. today, trump met with theresa may. he held the relationship between the u.k. and u.s. and pledged improved trade talks if britain leads -- leaves the european union. >> it was a day for special relationships. u.s. president donald trump and the outgoing british minister on

stage for probably one of the last times. >> for the past 2.5 years, the president and i have had the duty and privilege of being the latest guardians of this precious and profound friendship. as with our predecessors, and we have faced threats to the security of our citizens and allies, we have stood and acted together. >> that included cooperation to stop iran getting nuclear weapons and encouraging nato members to pay more into the alliance. a big part of that relationship is trade. >> as the u.k. makes preparations to exit the european union, the united states is committed to a phenomenal trade deal between the u.s. and the u.k. there is tremendous potential in that trade deal. we say probably to and even three times what we are doing right now. >> but in the streets around the

prime minister's residence, there was a less than friendly welcome. >> shame on you! >> they want to impose horrible, lower standards on us in britain. it is all because we look as if we are going to be so reduced by brexit. that we are going to have to accept these terms. i pray it is not going to happen. >> the crowds were smaller than for previous anti-trump protests, but it is trump's policies, not his promises that cause the most upset. >> almost every single thing he has done is un-american and unpleasant and nasty. i think america deserves better. climate change, women's rights, gay rights, gun control.

he has done absolutely nothing. >> everyone knows the british prime minister is on the way out and it will be up to her successor to make sure the special relationship remains more cordial. brent: dw has more on trump's visit and the future of that special relationship. she reports from london. >> it has been much talk about the special relationship p durig the state visit by president trump. but what does this mean? the u.s. is offering a substantial trade deal once the u.k. leaves the european union. the devil will be in the details. critics here in the u k suspect that the u.s. might exploit its position of strength, by demanding access to public services such as health care. they fear that the special relationship might become as uneven as it is special. brent: here are some of the

other stories making headlines around the world. authorities say they have seized over five tons of illegal drugs destined for europe. the president says the whole is made in an operation involving police in argentina. five companies for pretending to export honey and bananas. police industry have arrested a man suspected of killing four people. witnesses say the gunman stormed through rooms on tuesday firing a sawed-off shotgun before fleeing the scene. they say the attack was not terrorism related. a group of students disrupted proceedings libby german parliament, accusing the government of not doing enough about climate change. they said the stunt was designed to highlight how drastically situation is. to sudan, where the opposition

has rejected plans by military rulers to hold elections within nine months. the declaration of freedom and change says it will keep up a campaign of civil disobedience to force the army from power. the military canceled existing agreements after a violent crackdown on a protest that left dozens dead. >> after the slaughter, khartoum holds its breath. protesters barricading roads as they call for civil disobedience. any trust they had any military is gone. opposition leaders reject the military's plan for elections. they want a larger structural change before a vote is held. without that, they say elections will not be f fair and could alw elements of the former president's regime to hold onto powewer. >> the military council's leader has not learned the lessoso of

historory. he is clearly repeating it in every way. we believe it is in n the handsf the people. they h have begugun settinup barricades. they have e succeeded in their strikes. they are heaeading toward disobedience. this regime will fall no matter what. >> monday's violence was the worst since he was ousted in april. on tuesday, the military councnl expressed regret at the deaths. >> we promised to investigate the incident and have asked a general prosecutor to handle the issue. we are calling on people to improve our homeland and spread the spirit of tolerance and forgiveness. we have remained open to honest and constructive suggestions for taking our country forward. >> taking stock of the carnage, demonstrators are skeptical.

>> this will lead to a mess in the country and drag it down. the opposition alliance will not accept it. people in general support us no matter their political affiliation. the government should abide by the people's will and the people support with the opposition alliance is calling for. >> that alliance and its supporters are vowing to continue their fight for full civilian rule. brent: i'm m joined by jason, a journalist. it is good t to have you on the show tonight. we have been out and about, talking to protesters today. what are they telling youou? >> today, i visisited a h hospil where many of the wounded from the massacre yesterday are receiving treatmtment. also, , people on the e streetse it set up barricades in her neighborhoods.

to prevent the rapid support forces, the militia that appears to have carried out the massacre yesterday. the crucial thing is that i did not talklk to any protester who was willing to baback down. despite this unbelievable level of vioiolence. peoplele are sti h holding stro, at least in terms of f not backg down from the military. they arere still demanding a civilian government, freedom and democracy. in fact, there is one quote one person said, even though there is a revolution going since september, now is when it starts. brent: protesters have rejectetd the army's election plan, calling g for new elections witn the next nine months. why are they so adamant against that? dodo they suspect a military por grab in the making?

>> they really has been a military power grab. the military was in control, then after pushing him out, the military remained in control. they insist on negotiations and have killed people who are trying to oppose military role. is done. the military is in control. when it comes to the election, the reason people are against the election happening so quickly is because there have been so many rigged elections in the past. people do nonot think that t the will be e enough time in nine months to reform the country's institutions.. certainly, if there are no civilians in the government, people fear that they will hold

an election that does not have legitimacy. brent: from m the outside, it appeared that these protests were peaceful l in the begeginn. there were negotiations between the military council and protesters. it seemed that sudan wasas set r peaceful power transition. then it changed. how did people on the street explain that to you that change? >> do they know exactly what happppened? >> i think the protesters themseselves have been peaceful. nothing serious, nothing compared to the level of violence coming from the military. a lot of people claim the gulf states have been the only international players to do

anything about this situation. those countries have cited strongly with the military. they have pledged 3 billion pounds, have deposited some of that money already. people basically blame them for giving the military council the green light to do what it wants. whether the actually do that is another thing, but that is what people believe. at the same time,e, the protests have held firm. they have helped their sit in outside the ministry of defense for two months now. it is gone after yesterday, but they basically showed that people were not backing down. the military has fallen back on what it has used for decades to

suppress the opposition. brent: what about the e african union? >> the african u union started t quite strtrong, , saying the mililitary should hand ovever wn two weeks to civilian authorities. then things started to get fuzzy. in particular, the president pushed through an extension of that deadline for a few months. basically, that has given the military council the time and the space to delay things and use violence. the au has been in a bind. it has not stepped up to the plate as much as it could have. brent: jason in khartoumum with the lalatest.

thank you. full membership in the european union and nato and peace with russia. that is what ukraine's new president would like. he took his wish list with him on his first official visit today. his destination, brussels. he held talks and met with the nato chief. during his election campaign, he pledged to bring peace to eastern ukraine, but offered no concrete plans. around 13,000 people have been killed in fighting between government troops and russian backed separatists. >> a strategic course of ukraine to achieve full-fledged membership in the e eu and nato, which h is secure in the constitution of ukraine remainss unchanged. this is the priority of our

foreign policy.. ukraine's progress toward high europeans living and security standards is a demand of the ukraine society. brent: let's get more on the visit. i'm joined by our correspondent in brussels. when he was running for office, he was very careful not to allow himself to be called a pro-eu or pro-nato candidate. now he goes to brussels saying i need you. how did that go down in brussels? >> there was a lot of skepticism initially when he ran and won. as you say, he was not your typical politician. especially not your typical ukrainian politician. they are very pro-eu and pro-nato. he was tactically smart in making brussels's first trip abroad. that was very well-received.

i've spoken to a lot of people about how he is building his administration, whether he can be taken seriously. everyone i've spoken with says he is surrounded himself with smart people and taking the job seriously. brent: he has made it clear that his main objective is to bring an end to the war in ukraine and he needs the eu and nato to do that. can they deliver what he needs and is there an appetite for them to step up their involvement? >> what he really needs is the kremlin to decide it wants to end the war in eastern ukraine. the european union has had heavy sanctions on russia for years, starting with the annexation of crimea and they have added to those constantly, a along with e unitedtatates. nato has stepppped up with more than 40 million euros worth of trust funds, helping g ukraine reform its strtructures, build p

betttt military and the war in ukukraine goes on. it is a hot war and people sesem to forget that. 13,000 people dead. you can get as much pressure as you want until moscow stops funding the s separatists, that war r is notot going to end. i expect he will get some encouraging statements from russell's, but they can't stop the shooting. brent: it would be interesting if his first trip abroad would have bring to moscow instead of brussels. >> that would have raised a lot of eyebrows. brent: him pursuing this pro-western path, it is not going to go down well in moscow. our leaders worried about blowback from russia if they encourage kiev into forging closer ties with the west? >> i think those are days gone by. ukraine has what is called a

deep and conference a trade agreement with the european union. they are on the path to nato membership. i don't think there is going to be any big change in the way moscow would react. that is now considered normal. what president putin did you is right after zelinski was elected, he thought he would test a new president and announced that all residents in eastern ukraine could get russian passports. he thought that would readily president. he could say i think we will offer ukrainian passports. you can be arrested for giving demonstrations. we will one up here and give those suffering russians passports. i am told that really upset the kremlin. it does him well to have a good sense of humor and it seems to bode well for his presidency. president putin seems to be rattled. brent: thank you.

after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. for now, we want to leave you with a reminder of our top story. remembering the massacre on tiananmen square 30 years ago. although the crackdown has been erased from history in china, in hong kong, memories are being kept alive. we have images in hong kong's victorian -- >> [singing]

twenty four france twenty four dot com- to set the watching live from paris here on fronts twenty full on marco in these are the headlines. tensions mount as the opposition rejects flatly dimitri's off of elections in nine months time and sit down. the day after at least thirty five people killed off the soldiers stormed a peaceful sit down protest in cut. to day two of the state visit the people taking to the streets to protest. over donald trump being in the u. k. i told me about trump tells theresa may that she did a great job. us president disagreeing with their own pockets and t the british people they give the exiting prime minister. approval rating just 18%. thirty years on china and p