They also knew that in China, democracy protests had been crushed by tanks.
Deng Xiaoping and his hard-line allies crushed the 1989 democracy protests because they believed their survival was at stake.
Like many here, he watched with fascination and then horror as the democracy protests unfolded in Beijing in the spring of 1989.
In 1989, Ma Jian returned to Beijing and took part in the democracy protests.
The country was inspired by the color revolutions including the Orange Revolution and the Iranian democracy protests.
His detention seems part of the government's crackdown on dissidents and human rights activists since democracy protests rocked the Middle East.
A series of pro democracy protests in support of the Syrian revolution were also held.
He was toppled in a power struggle that coincided with student-led democracy protests in the spring of 1989.
But the election law was drafted before recent democracy protests and does not mention a role for opposition parties, officials said.
Indeed, General Zhang was reportedly criticized for allowing some of his students to join the democracy protests.
