China bans all internet searches for ‘big yellow duck’ as part of Tiananmen Square anniversary clampdown after prankster substitutes ducks for tanks in viral image

Chinese police stationed outside cemetery where victims of Tiananmen are buried

Authorities blocking Chinese Twitter searches of sensitive terms related to historic demonstrations



Chinese dissidents including artist Ai Weiwei criticise Beijing for censorship

Streets of Hong Kong packed with protesters as pro-democracy residents demonstrate against crackdown




The Chinese authorities have banned the phrase 'big yellow duck' as an internet search item after a prankster substituted tanks for ducks in a doctored version of a world famous photograph taken during the Tiananmen massacre

China has begun an annual crackdown on efforts by families to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, 24 years after the pro-democracy demonstrations were crushed by the People’s Liberation Army.

A number of internet search terms have been banned including 'tomorrow' "today", "tonight", "June 4" and other number combinations that might refer to what the Chinese call the June Fourth Incident .

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Censored: The Chinese authorities have banned the phrase 'big yellow duck' as an internet search item after a prankster substituted tanks for ducks in this doctored version of a world famous photograph

Tank man: The world famous image of a protestors standing in front of oncoming Chinese tanks during the 1989 protests

Popular: The doctored photograph is a reference to the 54-foot yellow duck created by Florentijn Hofman, which floats in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour. This shows a copy of the duck in Tianjin, China

As reported by International Business Times, 'Big yellow duck' has also been censored as a search item. It comes after a user on Sina Weibo, a Chinese social network, posted a doctored version of the famous Jeff Widener's photograph of a protester confronting a line of tanks in the square.

The doctored photograph instead features four ducks in row instead of the tanks. it was a reference to the 54-foot yellow duck created by Florentijn Hofman, which floats in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.

Families of the victims of the massacre have been barred from visiting their graves by more than a dozen Chinese police stationed outside the main 'Stone Gate' entrance to the Wanan graveyard where many of the victims are buried.

The exact number of victims of the massacre on June 3-4 and the political crackdown which followed soon after is unknown but it is believed to run well into the hundreds if not more.

Commemoration: Tens of thousands of people joined a candlelit vigil in Hong Kong to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests today

Crowds: Demonstrators swarmed the city's Victoria Park in memory of the brutal crackdown carried out by the Chinese government

Freedom: The commemorations have only been allowed to take place in Hong Kong amidst heightened security in mainland China Vibrant: Protesters brought a series of eye-catching banners aimed at undermining the government's anti-democratic policies

The Chinese Government considers the peaceful protest by students and workers to have been a 'counter-revolutionary' revolt, and has previously defended the decision to send in tanks and troops. It has never provided an official death toll.

The move by Beijing is part of a major push to suppress discussion of the massacre across China and Hong Kong, particularly online and around certain parts of the capital.

Security personnel were patrolling the narrow streets close to Beijing's Forbidden City and outside the former house of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist party secretary who was purged and held under house arrest following the protests.

Authorities have also detained or enhanced surveillance on 10 prominent dissidents, according to the Hong Kong-based advocacy group China Human Rights Defenders.



Hardy: Protesters braved the elements to show their opposition to the military crackdown which killed the Chinese democracy movement

Passion: A man brandishes a candle as he protests next to a statue depicting the 'Goddess of Democracy' in Hong Kong

Moving: But in mainland China the authorities have blocked sensitive search terms to avoid controversy

Repression: Some protesters sat behind bars to symbolise the Chinese government's hardline authoritarian policies

Online searches for a range of keywords on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, have been blocked, from ‘Tiananmen’ to ‘candle’, which has been used to encourage digital vigils.

Instead activists turned to overseas websites to commemorate the event and criticise authorities.



‘The dispute in this country is basically stuck on whether to light a candle or to extinguish it,’ dissident artist Ai Weiwei posted on Twitter.



Rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said on Twitter that he had been blocked from Sina Weibo for seven days for sharing 'sensitive information' -- urging others to honour victims by posting an image of a lit candle.



Forum: Participants at a discussion meeting in Victoria Park in front of a poster of Beijing's Tiananmen Square

Tributes: Wreaths left in Hong Kong to commemorate the iconic events of the 1989 protests

Security: There was a heavy police presence in Tiananmen Square itself to prevent the possibility of a memorial protest

A mocked-up picture was circulating online of the 1989 ‘Tank Man’ photograph of a civilian staring down a long row of tanks headed toward Tiananmen Square -- with the military vehicles replaced by plastic ducks.



The image could not be found on domestic websites within the ‘Great Firewall of China’ as the country's system of internet controls is known.



The high-profile dissident Hu Jia wrote on Twitter the broad crackdown on discussion of Tiananmen demonstrated the government's weakness.



The event underscored the ruling Communist Party's ‘illegal nature’, he wrote. ‘The unprecedentedly high pressure for the 24th anniversary of June 4 actually reveals the authorities' fear.’



Contrast: Chinese tourists in the square seemed carefree today; many are unaware of what happened in 1989

Innocent: A little girl holding the Chinese national flag dances in Tainanmen Square as the portrait of Chairman Mao looks on





Over the weekend China accused the US of 'prejudice' after it urged Beijing to provide a full account of the crackdown on activists after the Tiananmen Square protests.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the US should 'stop interfering in China's internal affairs'.

The Chinese authorities had already reached a 'clear conclusion' about the Tiananmen Square protests, he added.



On Friday, the US state department said the 24th anniversary of the 'violent suppression of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square' prompted it to remember this 'tragic loss of innocent lives'.



