4 June 1989
New Moon, 0% lit
Tiananmen Square cleared in the dark
The square was cleared in the small hours of a moonless night, and the last students walked out at dawn.
The death toll has never been established; estimates from diplomatic cables released decades later run from several hundred into the thousands. The Moon was new that day, so what light there was came from the street lamps and the fires.
- Date
- 4 June 1989
- Moon computed for
- 01:00 local time, UTC+8
- Phase
- New Moon
- Illuminated
- 0%
Source: UK diplomatic cable, 5 June 1989, released 2017, The National Archives