Beijing Crowds

China has an armed government and a disarmed citizenry. What did you expect? MARK PIERCE Sun Valley

They might not have tickets to the Games. They might never set foot in a stadium. But wherever there was a TV screen, big or small, the people of Beijing on Friday gathered and cheered, soaking up this brief moment in the long history of this ancient capital when the Olympic flame illuminated the Chinese sky.

BEIJING -- Chinese troops of the People's Liberation Army opened fire with automatic weapons early today on huge crowds of civilians in Beijing, killing at least 100 of them and perhaps many more, according to medical and diplomatic reports, in a successful effort to recapture Tian An Men Square from pro-democracy demonstrators. At least 400 people were reported wounded. For China, it was a fundamental turning point. The Communist Party leadership headed by the aging Deng Xiaoping made the decision that no matter how high the costs to its image at home or abroad, it had to overwhelm with a force the students and other demonstrators who had challenged the power and legitimacy of the regime.

The Chinese soldiers were beating and kicking the young man outside his apartment complex on Beijing's No. 3 Ring Road late Tuesday afternoon, as the crowd of gaping commuters along the busy thoroughfare quickly began to swell. "But I live here," the young victim shouted to his attackers and anyone else in the crowd who would listen, as he frantically waved his arms to ward off the blows. "I live here." The handful of helmeted soldiers, dressed in full battle fatigues and gripping AK-47 rifles, harassed him relentlessly until the crowd finally began pulling him away, over a fence and onto the sidewalk.

Chinese troops of the People's Liberation Army opened fire with automatic weapons early today on huge crowds of civilians in Beijing, killing at least 100 of them and perhaps many more, according to medical and diplomatic reports, in a successful effort to recapture Tian An Men Square from pro-democracy demonstrators. At least 400 people were reported wounded. For China, it was a fundamental turning point. The Communist Party leadership headed by the aging Deng Xiaoping made the decision that no matter how high the costs to its image at home or abroad, it had to overwhelm with a force the students and other demonstrators who had challenged the power and legitimacy of the regime.

As I watched the killing and maiming of the young in China and waited for our government's democratic outrage, I began to wonder if we haven't lost something quite dear as well. It was the loss of some of our democratic spirit as our leaders coolly and calculatedly made their tepid response of "deploring the situation" in between boat rides in Kennebunkport. We were told by our government that it was not in our "best interest" to be too strong in our condemnation. We have "strategic military interests in China" that must be "preserved."