Sunday marked the 34th anniversary of the Chinese military's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

As President Xi Jinping has assumed an unprecedented third term as the Communist Party leader, the party and the government are apparently trying to suppress any criticism against them.

On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops opened fire on students and others who had gathered in and around the square to demand democracy. The incident resulted in a large number of casualties.

The Communist Party and the government maintain that they made the right decision in responding to the protests. They say the incident was "turmoil."
Publicly discussing the incident has been regarded as taboo in China, where information is strictly controlled.

Many tourists visited the square and its surroundings on Sunday morning, while a large number of police were deployed to watch out for any move to mourn the victims.

A group of the victims' relatives called the "Tiananmen Mothers" posted a letter in 116 people's names on the Internet addressed to China's government.

The letter says that although they see no hope, they will not give up.

It says they are eagerly waiting for the government to apologize to all of the victims' relatives and publicly repent the tragedy in order to bring justice to the victims.

However, viewing of the online letter is restricted in China.