Saturday marks the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in which the People’s Liberation Army swarmed a group of peaceful pro-democracy protesters (students and ordinary citizens alike) during the night, opening fire and ruthlessly running them down with their tanks. Although the exact figure remains a mystery, it is believed that hundreds – even thousands – were killed.

The Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to stifle acts of protest and resistance have not stopped one activist group, though. In a brave move, human rights coalition Tiananmen Mothers wrote an open letter Wednesday accusing the CCP of subjecting them to nearly three decades of “white terror” in an attempt to stop the members from speaking out against the massacre and the disgraceful government that carried it out.

The Tiananmen Mothers is a group of Chinese pro-democracy activists comprised of the parents, relatives, and friends of those murdered in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The group, formed in September 1989, campaigns for change in the government’s distorted and straight-out wrong position on the events, as well as disseminates information about the massacre to the vastly naive public.

In their world of censorship, suppression, and constant fear of reprisal, the group’s actions were courageous, to say the least. The letter publicly proclaimed that members of the coalition had been spied on, detained, and threatened by government agents.

China’s scheme to incite fear was lost on the group, however. The families vowed they would not be silenced by such “detestable perversity”. “We have nothing left to fear,” they wrote.

Meanwhile, in the days leading up to the anniversary, Beijing has been taking action against those acknowledging the true events of June 4, 1989. China sees any act of defiance – no matter how small or innocuous – as “counter-revolutionary uprisings”.

On Sunday, a man in southwest China was arrested on treason charges after allegedly sharing online photos of bottles of Chinese liquor with labels alluding to the massacre, according to an article by The Guardian.

This same week, it is reported that at least three people were apprehended in Beijing early Tuesday after attending a remembrance event where they were photographed under a banner which read: “Don’t Forget the Wounds of the Country.”

The CCP’s crusade hit home for Tiananmen Mothers as well. The group’s very own founder, Ding Zilin, has purportedly been confined to her home in Beijing by security officials.

79 year-old Ding, along with her husband, started Tiananmen Mothers in 1989 after her 17-year old son was shot through the heart by the People’s Liberation Army that fateful day. Ding became a widow last September when her husband died at the age of 82.

Addressing this in the open letter Wednesday, her fellow campaigners wrote of Ding: “She is physically and mentally exhausted and her state is worrisome.”

Despite the recent arrests made, the activists continue to demand truth, justice, accountability, and compensation. They boldly announced that they will ignore the pressure the state is putting on them.

“A government that unscrupulously slaughters its own fellow citizens, a government that does not know how to cherish its own fellow citizens, and a government that forgets, conceals, and covers up the truth of historical suffering has no future,” they wrote.

“It is a government that is continuing to commit crimes.”

Each year, June 4th is filled with deep anguish and mourning of the thousands of innocent lives unmercifully lost that day.

To commemorate the anniversary this year, hundreds of demonstrators marched the streets of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan is quoted by Asia One as saying, “This is the 27th year after 1989 and the people in Hong Kong, we, are still persistently calling for the vindication of June 4 and the end of one-party rule and democratic China. And also, everyone can see that, the suppression is not just back in 1989, it is also today in China, today in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong Free Press puts the number of protestors at approximately 1,500 people, though the official police statement, not surprisingly, estimated the size at half that. Last year’s commemoration attracted nearly 3,000 people.

The crowd was passionate, calling for equality and democracy as well as voicing their agony over the cruelty and callousness of the tyrannical Chinese Communist Party.  “Persist until the end! Never give up! Redress June 4! End one-party rule!” they chanted, Nikkei Asian Review reported.

Like most protests, however, groups of opposition were present as well. News platform Asia One wrote that Monday’s march was met by “dozens of pro-Beijing supporters,” who claim that reports agreed upon worldwide of civilian casualties at Tiananmen Square were enormously inflated.

One such CCP “patriot” was Peter Lam. “For 27 years, they (pro-democratic leaders) have been holding marches to draw attention to the Tiananmen Square massacre. I think this is not the truth. There are casualties in the 1989 riots, but the majority of those who died were military, as well as innocent civilians and students,” the loyalist said.

Mainland China works hard effacing what happened that tragic day 27 years ago; you won’t find the terms ‘Tiananmen Square Massacre’, ‘Tank Man’, or even the innocuous-sounding ‘June 4th’ anywhere on the web, and those who were alive then are too scared to mention the word, fearing persecution and imprisonment. The only version of Tiananmen Square is the Party’s version.

While people in mainland China are either clueless to the atrocious event or simply remain docilely silent on the matter, it is somewhat encouraging – even if ever-so-slightly – that the people of Hong Kong are taking an outspoken stand against the oppression and brutality of the Communist Party, paying tribute to and continuing on the message of the demonstrators who protested on June 4th, 1989.

Hong Kong’s unique legal status makes it the only place where commemorative demonstrations are allowed.

In a letter to the annual Beijing Forum on Human Rights, Xi wrote “China has been promoting economic and social development, improving people’s well-being, and toughening legal protection of human rights, among other efforts.”

However, China’s definition of human rights strays from the traditional Western doctrine which focuses on individual rights such as freedom of speech and religion. Instead, it looks at the bigger picture and emphasizes prosperity and peace.

In this sense, China has a glowing human rights record after having lifted more than half a billion people from poverty in the last 30 years. The country also has not fought a war in more than 30 years and it does not station troops abroad.

Xi will attempt to showcase his country’s advancements in protecting human rights when he attends the U.N. General Assembly from September 26 to 28, where he will chair a meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

On the other side of the world, however, human rights activists believe he can’t make a strong case.

Smantha Powers, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., recenly launched a campaign called Free the 20. It calls for the release of 20 female prisoners including three in China.

“If you want to empower women, don’t imprison them on the basis of their views or on the basis of the rights that they are fighting for,” Power said.  

Activists plan to protest Xi’s visit to the U.S.

They point to a crackdown on rights lawyers in China. More than 250 were detained this summer. They also claim Xi has suppressed freedom of religion, the press and the Internet.

In an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, a group of NGOs wrote “We believe that President Xi cannot leave Washington without having received a clear, public message from you that his government must end its persecution of civil society.”.