BEIJING (Reuters) - Families of victims of China's crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement appealed to Chinese lawmakers on Thursday to open a dialogue, saying such a move would send the right message ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
In an open letter released through New York-based HumanRights in China, the "Tiananmen Mothers" said members ofChina's parliament, whose annual session opens next week,should also issue a public apology to families of those killedon June 4, 1989.
"How can this government face the whole world?" the letterasked.
"Is it really possible that, as the host of the 2008Olympic Games, the government can be at ease allowing athletesfrom all over the world to tread on this piece of blood-stainedsoil and participate in the Olympics?"
China pledged to improve its human rights record in orderto host the Games, which open on August 8, but experts andlawmakers told a U.S. government panel on Wednesday that suchpromises were not being kept.
After initially tolerating the student-led demonstrationsin the spring of 1989, the ruling Communist Party sent troopsto crush the protests on the night of June 3-4, killinghundreds.
China has since labelled the movement"counter-revolutionary" and, nearly 19 years on, the subjectremains taboo and the leadership has rejected public calls tooverturn its verdict.
The Tiananmen Mothers, a group led by Ding Zilin, a retiredprofessor whose teenage son was killed in the crackdown, calledfor the Standing Committee of China's parliament, or NationalPeople's Congress, to designate prosecutors to investigate thekillings.
"Issues remaining after June 4th must be resolved throughthe legal system, in accordance with the law, withoutinterference by any party, faction or individual," the lettersaid.
"They must not be resolved according to the pattern ofprevious political campaigns, after which the government hasalways issued its own account of a re-evaluation orexoneration."
(Reporting by Lindsay Beck; Editing by Nick Macfie)