In efforts to curb acknowledgment or remembrance of the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square, officials in China have blocked Google services to curb searches about the incident. In an e-mail to Bloomberg News, Greatfire.org, a website that monitors Chinese internet, writes: “In an effort to prevent the dissemination of information related to this event, the Chinese censorship authority have severely blocked most Google services in China, including search and Gmail. Our gut feeling is this disruption may be permanent.”

Just how far is the Chinese government willing to go to curb recognition of the protest 25 years ago? According to reports from Business Week, authorities cracked down by arresting over 50 people who were allegedly merely discussing the incident, including journalists, activists, lawyers, and intellectuals. Beijing is infested with police and security forces. On the ground, there are open jeeps carrying police, armed with rifles, and setting up check points for those entering/leaving the city. In Beijing, helicopters hover over the city and under ground, the subways are being filled by bomb-sniffing dogs.

A blog by Amnesty International writes that even after 25 years, “Chinese citizens continue to be persecuted for trying to remember the events of 1989 when hundreds, if not thousands, of protestors were killed or injured on the nights of 3 and 4 June.”

Many intellectuals are stressed that even referring to or discussing the Tiananmen incident will cause trouble due to the almost 100,000 Beijing residents who have been recruited to collect any sort of information of destabilization for a monetary reward of 40,00 yuan, or almost $6,500. After 15 academics and activists gathered in the apartment of human rights lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang in May, five have been detained for provoking trouble.

Chinese officials have summoned foreign reporters to “dissuade them from reporting on the anniversary” of Tiananmen, warning them of “serious consequences” that might ensue with disobedience, according to an e-mail from the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of China.

After learning about the Google blocks in order to prevent destabilization in China, representatives from the search engine assert that “there are no technical problems” associated with the block, and it is not responsible for its unavailability in the country.

Photo: Flickr