World·Photos

1989 Tiananmen Square protests: 15 iconic images

Twenty-five years ago this week, hundreds of demonstrators were killed in the 1989 crackdown of pro-democracy protesters on Beijing's Tiananmen Square after weeks of student protests. Here are some iconic images from that time in history.

Twenty-five years ago, thousands of students gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square for weeks, demanding democratic reforms of the Communist country.

The daily student protests eventually culminated with a deadly crackdown on June 3-4, 1989, as soldiers, tanks and armoured personnel carriers attacked, killing hundreds of civilians.

China has has never issued a complete, formal accounting of the crackdown and the number of casualties. The exact death toll is not known, but human rights groups and witnesses estimate it at several hundred to several thousand.

With files from The Associated Press