From Radio Free Asia (link):
A former student leader of China’s 1989 pro-democracy protests has expressed deep remorse for the actions of the students in handing over to authorities three men from Hunan who defaced the portrait of Chairman Mao at Tiananmen Square.
“In regard to the three people including Lu Decheng defacing the Mao Zedong portrait, in the beginning, I feel that it was a righteous act, at least from the present viewpoint,” U.S.-based dissident Wang Dan told RFA’s Mandarin service following Lu Decheng’s in-depth interview by Jill Ku.
“Due to the actions of individual students, Lu Decheng and the other two people have paid a huge price. As part of the student body in 1989, just like those who took part in the alliance such as Wu’er Kaixi and Wang Chaohua, we have a very deep remorse toward him and other people like Yu Dongyue,” Wang said.
“An increasing number of Chinese, I mean overseas Chinese, are more aware of the autocratic, totalitarian, and violent nature of the Chinese Communist Party,” Lu said. “This is huge progress. All the unrealistic illusions 17 years ago were born out of illusions about China, always hoping that there would be so-called “reform.”
See also “China to free last high-profile Tiananmen prisoner” (link)
