"Tank Man" statue unveiled in California on Tiananmen anniversary

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"Thirty years ago when I had my last glimpse of the tank, it was this close," said Fang Zheng, an activist who lost the majority of his legs when a tank rolled over his lower body. "I believe, with our efforts, China will one day be democratized," he said to a crowd of around 250 supporters. Zheng and a local official unfurled an American flag to reveal the statue of an unidentified man who was photographed defiantly standing in front of People's Liberation Army tanks leaving the square on June 5, 1989. The event at Liberty Sculpture Park was one of several demonstrations around the world, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Such activism is banned in mainland China, where information about the incident is censored on the internet.

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"Here, on borrowed, sacred land in the free New World, we solemnly and respectfully set up this monument."

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