China has tightened security around Beijing's Tiananmen Square for the 27th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests.
Police checked IDs and searched the bags on Saturday of everyone entering the the vast public space in the centre of the capital where thousands of students, workers and ordinary citizens gathered in 1989 to demand political reforms.
Foreign journalists were stopped, filmed and ultimately forced to leave the area, ostensibly for lacking proper permission.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed as tanks and troops converged on Beijing on the night of June 3-4, 1989.
The topic remains taboo in China and any form of commemoration, whether public or private, is banned.
Memorials were planned in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong and self-governing island democracy of Taiwan, where some former student leaders have found refuge.
The Taiwanese Cabinet office responsible for ties with China issued a statement urging Beijing to "face up and heal the historical scars of June 4".
"We look forward to the Chinese mainland re-evaluating the history of June 4, valuing the will of the people and creating a fair, just and harmonious society through the building of institutions," the Mainland Affairs Council said in a news release.
Ahead of the anniversary, family members of those killed in the crackdown were placed under additional restrictions, either confined to their homes or forced to leave the capital.
China's government has rejected their calls for an independent accounting of the events and those killed and maimed by soldiers.
