Rebel students, after a four-day rampage with calls for democratic reforms, had their ardor doused by heavy rains Thursday and a threat from the authorities that their leaders could face the death penalty.
Following two days of mob attempts to break into Communist Party headquarters, Chinese television Thursday night blamed the escalating unrest on ”a handful of people” and their attempts ”to overthrow the party and the government.”
The charges, considered treason, carry the death penalty.
The harshness of the accusation, derided by students as ”trumped-up charges,” indicated that China`s besieged leadership is preparing the appropriate climate to suppress the demonstrations by force with the excuse of maintaining national stability.
At the same time, student sources claimed that more than 100 of their fellow demonstrators were arrested early Thursday morning. The account of arrests followed the second attempt to break into the Communist Party headquarters inside the Forbidden City.
No official confirmation was available.
Meanwhile, heavy rains, unusual in the capital at this time of year, washed out expected mass rallies but did not dissuade 500 Beijing University students from marching to central Tiananmen Square, where they chanted: ”Long live human rights!” and ”Long live democracy!”
It was the first time the demonstrators had included human rights among their demands for a free press, free speech and better conditions for academics.
Students said the march was a protest against the arrest of demonstrators. But they conceded that their call for a mass rally to all academic institutions had failed. They blamed the rain.
The arrival of the protesters in Tiananmen Square coincided with the reading of a statement, attributed to the New China news agency, during the prime-time television newscast across the nation.
It said: ”A handful of people deliberately point their spears at the party and the government. Their goal is to overthrow the government and the party and create a China dominated by chaos.”
In an ominous warning the statement added: ”It is now necessary to stop those who have overstepped the limits of the law. It is necessary to take serious measures.”
The statement said the serious measures would be directed at ”people making trouble in front and behind the stage.”
Political observers said the veiled reference to puppet masters behind the demonstrations could be interpreted as a threat to purge liberal party elements who have supported or been identified with the struggle for kaifang, a more democratic and open society.
Hu Yaobang, the former party chief whose death Saturday precipitated the rallies under the guise of ”official mourning,” was purged from his post two years ago on similar charges.
The expressions of grief quickly turned into open political demonstrations, with isolated calls for the resignation of the country`s top leaders and a cry for public scrutiny of the incomes of all senior party officials and their families.
Many Chinese intellectuals said they believe the demonstrations were allowed to continue for a while so that hard-liners could discredit liberals in the party, paving the way for their eventual purge.
”We were surprised the rallies were allowed to continue for so long,”
one student leader said.
As rain lashed the capital Thursday, only about 3,000 people congregated under umbrellas in Tiananmen Square, where 24 hours earlier nearly 50,000 had stood shoulder to shoulder.
The crowd watched a tightly packed group of 500 students from Beijing University arrive in the square dripping wet but still chanting their slogans after a 4 1/2-hour march through the rain.
Rally leaders wearing red armbands formed a human chain around the demonstrators as they laid another wreath to the memory of Hu, who was never as popular among students alive as he became this week after his death.
