The massacre of pro-democracy supporters by Chinese troops in Beijing on the 3-4 June 1989 marked the end of the largest political protest in communist China's history.

James Miles - the BBC's China correspondent at the time - spoke to the crowds in Tiananmen Square in the weeks before the violence. Here - using his and other archive material - we recall how events unfolded.

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Photographs courtesy: AP, AFP and Getty Images.
Slideshow by Paul Kerley. Publication date 2 June 2009.

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Audio slideshow: Tiananmen Square