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President Obama Promises Support To Kiev; Remembering Tiananmen Square; Interview with Tank Man Photographer Jeff Widener; Interview with Poet Jeffrey Yang

Aired June 4, 2014 - 8:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

I'm Kristie Lu Stout coming to you live from the Hong Kong waterfront where across the harbor a vigil is currently underway to remember the Tiananmen crackdown 25 years ago today.

Also ahead this hour, riveting new video of the moment U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl was set free by the Taliban after being held for five years.

The controversial release has cast a shadow on Barack Obama's European tour as he tries to reassure allies nervous about Russia's actions in Ukraine.

On this day, June 4, for 25 years now. China's Communist Party has done everything possible to make sure that no one in Mainland China speaks publicly about the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Now it is a stark contrast to what you see here, live pictures from Hong Kong's Victoria Park. There you see Hong Kong is the only place in China, as a matter of fact, where people can do this -- they can gather to remember and to discuss the crackdown and to recall the pro-Democracy protesters who were killed.

It's early yet. We don't know how many people are there, but a sizable crowd attending the vigil this year.

Again, there's no public mention of Tiananmen allowed in Mainland China, but not here in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong where there is freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and this as you're watching live on our screens, another annual candlelit vigil and rally to remember the massacre.

Now let's take a moment to remember what the Tiananmen Square protests were all about.

Now by the spring of 1989, old ways were being questioned and taboo topics like democracy and freedom were being discussed in parts of China.

And then, on April 15, China's popular reformist leader Hu Yaobang died. Thousands of students flocked to Tiananmen Square in an outpouring of grief and anger, demanding the changes that Hu stood for.

Now workers and civil servants joined the students in the square. And for weeks they camped out, even declaring a hunger strike. And they unveiled a goddess of democracy. This statue that became a rallying point for the huge crowd assembled there.

And by then, party elders had enough. Tanks rolled through Beijing of the night of June 3. In the early hours of June 4, the People's Liberation Army opened fire.

Now there's no official toll, but estimates of the dead range from the hundreds to the thousands. And China still forbids any public discussion of the crackdown.

Now the words June 4, and Tiananmen may be politically taboo in mainland China, but not here in Hong Kong where again there is freedom of speech and a vigil underway to remember the crackdown.

Now CNN's Anna Coren is there in Victoria Park. She joins us live. Anna, how much many people are there taking part in the vigil tonight?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, as you can see from the scenes in front of you, it's just extraordinary. There are tens of thousands of people here at Victoria Park. You know how big this park is. Well, it is completely full.

Organizers say numbers could be as high as 200,000 and people have their candles, they're here for this candle lit vigil to commemorate the hundreds, if not thousands of people who were killed in Tiananmen -- at the Tiananmen crackdown 25 years ago.

From the people that I have spoken to here tonight, they say that it is their responsibility to remind the Chinese Communist regime that they will not forget this piece of history, that it's their responsibility to remind not just the Chinese government, but obviously the world as to what took place.

And, you know, there really is a sense that these people want to be proud Chinese citizens and that they have to acknowledge what took place.

So, obviously, different scenes in mainland China where dozens of activists, lawyers, artists have been detained and arrested. We know that foreign journalists have been harassed.

As we're going to air, Kristie, no doubt (inaudible) has been blocked. You know, the government does not want the people seeing this coverage. As far as they're concerned they've wiped this piece of history from the history books.

But the people of Hong Kong, you know, they're hoping that their voices are heard. 25 years ago, the people in Tiananmen Square who had been protesting there for almost two months were calling for freedom, for democracy, for human rights and for an end to corruption. Well, 25 years on today, Kristie, you know, many people in China are calling for exactly the same thing.

Back to you.

LU STOUT: You know, Anna, it is remarkable, it's also inspiring to hear the people of Hong Kong saying that they are out there participating in this vigil, because of this sense of responsibility to not forget what happened in Tiananmen Square 25 years ago. And also to demand accountability.

But I'm curious, among the scores of people around you there in Victoria Park, Anna have you seen any mainland Chinese among those gathered at the vigil?

COREN: Look, without doubt, there are mainland Chinese here tonight. But, you know, majority of the people are citizens of Hong Kong as they raise their candles and remember the people who were killed 25 years ago.

You know, these are students, these are professionals. I spoke to one young girl who wasn't even born when the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred 25 years ago, but you know, she felt that it was important to remind the Chinese government they will not forget her parents said exactly the same thing. They said that they are very sad that this is part of China's history, but it is up to people to remember and to remind, you know, the regime and the world that this took place and a change needs to happen.

Kristie, back to you.

LU STOUT: Anna Coren reporting live from Hong Kong's Victoria Park, thank you.

Now it is a very, very different scene in mainland China. Even the day June 4 is a blocked term there.

Now let's bring up a live feed of CNN's coverage on a television in our Beijing bureau. As you can see, blacked out. Censors have blacked out any mention of Tiananmen.

Well, later in the show we'll be speaking to our correspondent in Beijing David McKenzie. He'll be joining us live then.

Now a longtime watcher of China says that the country's leaders can try, but it is impossible to erase what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989, because none of it exists in isolation. Former CNN Beijing bureau chief Mike Chinoy says the Communist Party's actions tied its leaders to a set path of development in order to secure their one party rule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE CHINOY, FRM. CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Tiananmen changed China in many ways. It convinced the Chinese Communist Party that they could not go down the road of political reform, but at the same time the senior leader then, Deng Xiaoping concluded that China had to accelerate economic reforms that were already in the pipeline. Deng felt that only by developing the economy could the Chinese Communist Party secure the loyalty of the people.

And so that combination very tight controls on the political front, but expanded economic reform has characterized China's development.

So that's one consequence.

Because of the scale of what happened in 1989, and because it coincided with a very sharp split in the Chinese Communist Party and clashing visions about which direction the country should go. And because of the way it was crushed, it remains a very, very sensitive issue.

And so you have this paradox in China. On the one hand, the Communist Party does everything in its power to prevent people from knowing what happened. Yet, at the same time, the degree of anxiety that they exhibit, which we have seen every year, and this year in particular, in all of the steps they take to prevent anybody talking about Tiananmen Square, doing anything about Tiananmen Square shows that underneath it's kind of still an unhealed sore in the Chinese political system, because it raises questions about the legitimacy of all the people in the leadership who have come after 1989.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Mike Chinoy, he's also written about how Tiananmen changed the media. You can find the piece on CNN.com.

He writes this, quote, "the protests generated unparalleled international coverage and became a defining moment in the information age. It was the first time a popular uprising in an authoritarian state was broadcast live across the globe."

And one of the most iconic images was a line of tanks blocked by a single man.

Now this happened on June 5. And the world watched and held its breath as the defiant protester refused to give ground even when a tank tried to drive around him.

Unforgettable CNN video there.

Now the crowd in Beijing grew louder as he darted in front of the armored vehicle. And then later, he climbed on top of it. Eventually an onlooker dragged him away. And this entire incident, it lasted just a matter of minutes.

But the memory of Tank Man lives on, thanks to an enduring photograph by Jeff Widener. And earlier today, I met Widener. He's here in Hong Kong. And I talked to him about the Tank Man, that enduring icon of defiance that he captured on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: That image -- an unknown man staring down a line of tanks near Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a symbol of defiance known the world over, a symbol outright banned in mainland China.

When he was a photojournalist with the Associated Press, Jeff Widener took the famous Tank Man photograph during the crackdown 25 years ago.

JEFF WIDENER, PHOTOJOURNALIST: It was taken at the Beijing hotel, because that was the closest vantage point to get to where the occupied square was. And I had to get bicycle and go all the way down past soldiers and tanks and sporadic gunfire in the distance. So that was a challenge just to get there. And then you have to get past secret police who were using electric cattle prods on the journalists if they didn't give up their supplies or notebooks or whatever.

So I managed to run into this student named Kirk (ph) and who allowed me up into his room. And then when I got up there, that was the sixth floor balcony, when I heard the tanks I went outside and when they started coming towards me I just leaned over and took three pictures.

LU STOUT: You were a witness to what unfolded. Could you described, and maybe just walk me through the photos as well, what the atmosphere was like and how the protesters organized themselves in the square?

WIDENER: Well, they were extremely organized. There was a very jubilant atmosphere. And there was this sense of hope. And I think a lot of these protesters weren't even sure what they were protesting about, but they just all knew that something was really different in the air.

But what struck me is something very dramatic was the building of the Goddess of Democracy, because there you have the symbol of freedom, which is basically a duplication of the Statue of Liberty. And that is facing right across the street from the Mao portrait of the Forbidden City, which is the -- you know, it's the iconic, you know, Communistic symbol.

And these two forces are facing off at each other. And I think this just blew my mind, and all the other journalists covering this story. You just couldn't believe like how long is it going to be before the government, you know, doesn't tolerate this anymore.

LU STOUT: And a question about this photograph of the Chinese soldiers, the troops, and they're holding their guns. It's a very intimidating display. Were they firing as well?

WIDENER: Yeah, they were. But not in this particular picture.

It was very intense. And I was really scared the whole time.

You know, they talk about, you know, it's not in the movies. It's not Nick Nolte. It's not James Wood, you know, it's not that. I mean, when they started firing at the diplomatic compound, I ran away, dropped my lenses -- I ran away like a scared schoolgirl. I wasn't sticking around.

When you've got about 100 AK-47s going off, you don't stick around to start taking pictures.

LU STOUT: And the question everyone must be asking you over and over and over again, who is he? What happened to the Tank Man?

WIDENER: We don't know who he is. We don' know where he is. And so where do you go? You go to the guy who saw him last, and that's me or the other photographers. And so we don't have any answers either. Nobody knows where he is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: That was photographer Jeff Widener speaking to me earlier.

You're watching News Stream. And still ahead, we'll hear from more people who witnessed this defining moment in China's history.

Also ahead, a new video gives us a look at the rescued U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl during his final moments in Afghanistan. We have the footage and we have more on Washington's reaction.

And the U.S. president meets his new counterpart from Ukraine and promises more support from Washington. He also had strong words on Russia's actions in Crimea and elsewhere.

Plus, that chilling story from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Now police say two 12-year-old girls stabbed a school friend 19 times after reading horror stories on the Internet. We'll have more on that later in the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Live video there from Hong Kong's Victoria Park where tens of thousands, if not more, Hong Kongers and other Chinese have gathered to remember what happened 25 years ago today, the crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square.

Coming to you live from Hong Kong, from the waterfront, you're watching a very special edition of CNN News Stream. Welcome back.

Now the Taliban have released video footage they say shows the transfer of army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban to American hands. And in this video, Bergdahl sits in the pickup truck with heavily armed fighters nearby.

Now a short time later, a Blackhawk helicopter arrives, picks up Bergdahl and then takes off.

Now the Pentagon says it is no reason to doubt this video's authenticity.

Now Bergdahl, he was freed on Saturday after being held captive by the Taliban for five years.

And for more now, let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She joins me live from Washington. And Barbara, I understand the Pentagon released a statement. What more did it say about that video?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Very briefly just saying that they are looking at it. No reason to doubt its authenticity. But, Kristie, when you look at the video frame by frame, it's a fascinating look at Bowe Bergdahl's walk to freedom and the men who came to get him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): Breaking overnight, the first images of the actual Bowe Bergdahl swap emerging on the Taliban's web site. Chanting praise for their leader, 18 armed Taliban militants seen standing and wait perched on grassy hills in the valley, guns and rocket launchers at the ready. The narration says this meeting took place at four in the afternoon in host province, Eastern Afghanistan.

At the center of the action, a silver pickup truck, Bowe Bergdahl seen inside sitting in the back seat. Bergdahl dressed all in white. He appears to be nervous, blinking, and shaky. Bergdahl seen talking with one of his alleged captors. At one point, the army sergeant even cracks what looks to be a smile while talking and then wipes his eyes.

Seen flying overhead, a twin-engine plane approaching the meeting point. And then suddenly like a scene out of the movies the Special Forces Blackhawk helicopter descends. Two Taliban militants immediately escort Bergdahl towards the chopper, waving a white flag.

Three U.S. Special Operations commandos approach, shaking hands with the Taliban militants. They pat down Bergdahl's back and immediately begin escorting him to the helicopter. In Bergdahl's left hand, a plastic bag. The contents, not yet known.

The commandos wave back to the militants as they run towards the chopper. They pat Bergdahl down again, this time in a deliberate and thorough fashion, presumably a swipe for explosives right before loading him in.

This face-to-face exchange lasting less than 10 seconds before they were off. A message later emerging, don't come back to Afghanistan. Another portion of the edited video shows the homecoming of the Taliban prisoners in a separate location. A caravan of SUVs pulls over alongside a busy stretch of road.

The five Guantanamo Bay detainees exit, hugging their supporters. This video now detailing what is considered a highly controversial exchange. The Obama administration facing steep criticism for what some say is a negotiation with terrorists in exchange for a U.S. soldier who some say is a possible deserter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: You know, setting the controversy aside, when you look at the video to see these U.S. military commandos doing what they do, a very rare public look at them, you can tell they have beards. Their faces are covered. They're not in standard military uniforms. These guys are rarely see in public -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Very, very riveting stuff to watch. And thank you very much indeed for that forensic look at this newly released video from Afghanistan of that prisoner swap. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon, thank you.

Now the controversy over that prisoner swap with the Taliban is largely overshadowing Barack Obama's trip to Europe. But today, the U.S. president kept his focus on a historic anniversary in Poland and his first ever meeting with Ukraine's incoming president.

We've got the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor you're back watching News Stream.

Now U.S. President Barack Obama's next stop in Europe in Brussels for summit of other Group of Seven leaders. Earlier today, he was in Poland as it marked a momentous anniversary. Now Poland held historic elections 25 years ago that ushered in the fall of Communism.

Speaking at the anniversary celebrations in Wasrsaw, Mr. Obama also mentioned the crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, which also happened exactly 25 years go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The story of this nation reminds us that freedom is not guaranteed. And historic cautions us to never take progress for granted.

On the same day 25 years ago that polls were voting here, tanks were crushing peaceful democracy protests in Tiananmen Square on the other side of the world.

The blessings of liberty must be earned and renewed by every generation, including our own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, President Obama also met with Ukraine's president- elect in Poland today. He pledged U.S. support for Ukraine's police and military. And he will join fellow Group of Seven leaders at a working dinner in Brussels in just a few hours.

Now, our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, he joins us live from Brussels.

And Nic, President Obama, he has met already with Ukraine's president- elect for the very first time. Could you tell us what happened in that meeting and how much support is the U.S. pledging for Ukraine?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Obama said that he really felt that he could see the vision that was being painted by President-elect Petro Poroshenko. And he said that was perhaps because he was a businessman.

What he did do was pledge support for the national police and army inside Ukraine, $5 million to go towards flak jackets and night vision equipment. This goes -- builds on, if you will, 300,00 MREs that have already been given by the United States for those government forces. And, as well, they've given cots, purification tablets for water -- cots, rather for soldiers to sleep on -- and helmets as well.

So it's not a lot, but it's something. And it's building on what they've already done.

So President Obama very clear with Petro Poroshenko, the president- elect, that the United States does want to support Ukraine as it faces the challenges from Russia and the militias -- well armed, militias, he said, in the east of the country.

An outpouring of Democracy was what he called the elections that elected President-elect Petro Poroshenko -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Nic Robertson joining us live from Brussels, many thanks indeed for that.

Now NATO is stepping up its military support for Ukraine's government. The alliance is meeting in Brussels today against the backdrop of a crisis that in recent weeks has seen escalating unrest and violence in eastern Ukraine.

Now the U.S. is urging NATO allies to beef up their defense budgets. And Barack Obama says he will ask congress for $1 billion to help bolster NATO security.

And as U.S. world leaders meet, violence again it continues in the east of Ukraine. Its armed forces are continuing to conduct what they call these counterterrorism operations. And they say more than 300 pro-Russian separatists were killed in military operations.

But the self-declared mayor of Slovyansk put that figure at just 10 people.

And earlier today, pro-Russian separatists stormed the Ukrainian border guard base on the outskirts of Luhansk, and that is according to the border guard website. Now the compound was badly damaged during 12 hours of clashes on Monday.

Now coming to you live from the Victoria Harbor here in Hong Kong. And the only Chinese city permitted to openly mark 25 years since China's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Live pictures of the vigil underway. We'll have more on the view from here and from across mainland China. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Coming to you live from the Hong Kong waterfront, this is a special edition of news stream on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, but first these are our world headlines.

Now the Taliban have released a new video showing the moment U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl was released in Afghanistan on Saturday. And these are the first pictures of Bergdahl we have seen since he was freed from five years in captivity. And they show him being transferred into U.S. custody.

Now U.S. President Barack Obama heads to Brussels next for a summit with the Group of Seven leaders. Earlier in Warsaw, Mr. Obama spoke at celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of elections that ushered in the fall of Communism. He says U.S. maintains an unwavering commitment to Poland and other NATO allies.

OK, now that may not sound like much, but Australian researchers say that sound you just heard could be related to Malaysia Airlines flight 370 crashing into the sea. Now they admit it is just as likely to be from a natural event, that there has been no sign of flight MH370 since it disappeared from radar on March 8.

Now today marks the 25 anniversary of Beijing's military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. And on the right of your screen, you could see a feed where coverage on a television in our Beijing bureau.

Now we're still on live at the moment, but censors in China, they've been blocking any mention of Tiananmen Square. We're monitoring the censorship regime and their reaction to our coverage.

There are also no official observances in mainland China, but here in Hong Kong -- as the screen just went black -- let's bring you to Hong Kong -- perfect timing here -- if you go to Hong Kong, you'll see thousands of people, they're holding a candlelight vigil right now to remember those killed.

Now again, here there is freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, people here telling our Anna Coren there in Hong Kong's Victoria Park that they believe it is their responsibility to take part in this annual vigil, a sense of responsibility not to forget and also a sense of responsibility to demand accountability from the Chinese government.

Now China's ruling Communist Party has tried to scrub any memory of the pro-Democracy protests, military crackdown from the public mind. And CNN's David McKenzie joins me now live from Beijing.

And David, we saw I mean just then quite dramatically the screen going from News Stream live on air, cutting to black with just the mention of Tiananmen Square.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Well, that's right, Kristie. And certainly that's a dramatic difference between the vigil in Hong Kong and the blank screens here in China. It really represents the difference that we've seen here today, very little mention, if at all, eking out on the Tiananmen Square massacre 25th anniversary.

The Communist Party has tried to obliterate it from the memory of Chinese, try to really blackout this history.

We went out onto the streets and to try and see if anyone remembered and if many had forgotten.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: In 1989, thousands of student activists believed they would change China. And during one euphoric summer on Tiananmen Square, many thought they could. Then the Communist Party ordered the crackdown. And the soldiers mobilized, crushing the democracy movement.

"I was there," says this woman. "It was chaotic. They had guns and shooting, bang, bang, bang all night, it went. There was fighting everywhere."

"There were bullet holes right in these walls," says this witness. "It was a night of fear. And for many, of shame.

"Everyone thought they should not have opened fire," he says. "Why did they open fire?"

Back then, the party defended its crackdown. But now those questions are left unanswered and no one is allowed to speak of the massacre.

So before long, the police track us and shut us down.

"You both why you can't come here right now," he tells me.

The democracy movement started long before June 4. And this place, Beida University, was where the discussions started and the ideas started forming for the students to protest.

Does the date June 4 mean anything to you, we ask?

"What is it? A national holiday?" She says.

No.

"No, I haven't," she says.

Many young people in China have never heard of June 4. But fresh from graduation, this student says some do talk about the massacre in private.

"Because you never know who could be listening," she says.

Have people forgotten history here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. People have not forgotten history, but I just say in China people are really tired. People know that things happened. And we need to focus on the future.

MCKENZIE: In a way the future looks like this, throngs of tourists streaming every day onto Tiananmen Square. It seems like the blackout of history is almost complete, because the party wants to make sure that this never happens again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: Well, the party has enforced that amnesia here in China, Kristie. Sometimes it's hard to know whether people don't remember or they just are too afraid to tell us about it. As you saw, the police there shut down our shoot when we were in a very sensitive area of Beijing where many of the protesters were killed on that day.

So, there is also this sense that some young people want to move on. They feel that China has made great strides since '89 and their chief aim in life is to get on with their lives and have successful careers and raise families.

But many activists I've spoken to say that's the single view on this. And that ultimately they say that those issues are still there, still bubbling under here in China left unresolved these many years later -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now activists both inside and outside mainland China working hard to fight this collective amnesia concerning Tiananmen and what happened a quarter century ago.

Now David, the CNN Beijing bureau is just blocks away from Tiananmen Square there in the Chinese capital, what is the scene and the security state right now in and around Tiananmen on this sensitive anniversary?

MCKENZIE: Well, there's very heavy security in Beijing, especially in the weeks ahead of this anniversary. Certainly the government says that security is because of the terror threat that they say is out there in the country right now. There is probably some truth to that.

But also, it's a very sensitive time any year, particularly on the 25th anniversary. We drove around Tiananmen Square a great deal of police and paramilitary police out there today.

Also, it must be said a lot of tourists on this square there, some of which I suspect were plain-clothes police. Several people who try to get there were stopped and turned back and detained.

Though, you know, I think the strategy has changed for the party, because of the '89 protests if there's any sense of movement is developing or protest, get out on to the street it's clamped down on so quickly and so effectively that often these movements don't even start moving before they are sort of moved out of the scene.

LU STOUT: CNN's David McKenzie reporting live from Beijing, thank you.

Now several Chinese activists have also lamented about this Tiananmen amnesia. On Tuesday, you heard from Hu Jia (ph). And I want to share comments from Shen tong. He was a student leader in Tiananmen Square and provided the west with one of the first detailed eyewitness accounts of the massacre. Shen says that despite the government's attempt to scrub the incident from memory, he remains hopeful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEN TONG, CHINESE ACTIVIST: At the same time there's plenty of indications that collective memory is so important to the national psyche cannot be forgotten, so even though a lot of young people don't know the details, the general population don't talk about this, this big terrible secret, this big public lie that people lived through in the last quarter century, those memory can come back very quickly as we've seen it there time and again in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Shen was on Chongan Avenue (ph) when Chinese troops opened fire on the students. And I asked him about what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONG: I was really trying to kind of stand in between the troops marching in and shooting in the air, sometimes shooting at people's feet or sometimes directly just shoot at the protesters throwing small rocks or there's not even that much rocks, there's like cock bottles, and so I was trying to calm both sides down by standing in the middle between the two groups and then telling people it's only rubber bullets. Just calm down. Don't throw anything, because we have a very strict non-violent principle in this protest. It was unbelievable.

It was until someone was shot right next to me on her face that's when I realized it was real. Then after that it was just -- it was just all white noise. I just -- it took me two weeks way after I was exiled and was in Boston that I started to really realize as I was watching all the rest of the American TV there was a crackdown after the massacre that it just started to really sink in, that's really what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And that was Shen Tong, a former student activist at Tiananmen Square.

Now in the eyes of many, Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese national treasure. Now his poetry speaks volumes on China's collective memory and its dreams for the future, making him a powerful advocate for political change.

Now Jeffrey Yang translated Liu Xiaobo's June 4 elegies. He's also a poet himself. He joins me now live.

And Jeff, thank you very much for joining us here on CNN International.

Liu Xiaobo, I mean since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he is known the world over, but the world doesn't know about his poetry. How would you describe his June 4 elegies?

JEFF YANG, POET: Thank you for having me.

The elegies are a profoundly moving testament to what happened during the June 4 movement. Liu Xiaobo was an active participant in the movement. And since 1990 for 20 years he's been writing an annual poem in remembrance as an offering to those who lost their lives, to the students who lost their lives, to the mothers who lost their children during that time. And just as a way of trying to, as you say, to try and to kind of recover this memory that's been erased in Chinese history.

LU STOUT: Now, we know that Liu Xiaobo, he was imprisoned in 2009. Each poem that he's written since 1989 has been an annual remembrance, but has he written one in recent years?

YANG: No one is -- no one really knows, exactly, if that -- whether that's true or not or if he's been writing at all. There was a point when his wife Liu Xia -- he of course has been under house arrest since his detention and imprisonment. She has said -- a video leaked of her as she said that he doesn't seem to be writing at this point in prison.

But I don't know. I mean, no one really knows. He's under tight security in prison.

LU STOUT: Now as a poet and as a translator of Liu Xiaobo's work, I want to ask you about the power of poetry. As we've been reporting and as we heard from David McKenzie just then in Beijing, Tiananmen has been all but publicly erased in mainland China. So do you believe that a poem can keep the memory of Tiananmen alive inside China?

YANG: Yeah. I mean, that's a difficult question, because, well, one these poems largely haven't been read in China, because they aren't -- he hasn't been allowed to publish there. You know, even when he wasn't in prison for many years, he hasn't been allowed to teach or anything.

But I do think poetry -- I mean, especially in Chinese tradition and Chinese culture, it has such a profound tradition, deep tradition and has a profound resonance. I mean, Liu Xiaobo has dedicated -- in the very beginning of the book, he dedicates these poems to the Tiananmen mothers, this organization that was started after Tiananmen, and also to those who can remember. And I think that's a -- you know, I think poetry plays a very important role in that in trying to recover this memory in a ritualistic way, and because of its deep tradition, its deep connections of language and with history.

LU STOUT: And Jeff, are you moved when you read the June 4 elegies and the poetry of Liu Xiaobo? And is there a line that lingers with you?

YANG: Yeah, no, it's -- I found it profoundly moving book. I was given a copy from someone who was given a copy themselves in Beijing. Liu Xia gave him a copy and he gave it to me. And when I first opened it, I was just completely overwhelmed by the poems, by the structure of the book, this kind of annual remembrance every year for over 20 years, you know, just forcing a remembering and just the powerful imagery and the moving words in it.

I mean, in a very -- in the most recent elegy that appears in this book in 2009, he personifies a needle that is drifting through his body and pierces his heart and floats around his body as a symbol of what these -- of trying to remember, struggling to remember against this officially erased period in history.

And he called the needle the watchman of conscience. And I think that, to me, also describes Liu Xiaobo himself. He has become a real hero in China. He's -- he -- I mean, it's just incredible, like just that he has been in prison still and will not, you know, admit to any sort of confession at this point, which would allow him, you know, to possibly be on parole or anything.

But at this point, you know, it seems very clear that he is standing by his words and his actions have spoken quite loudly.

LU STOUT: That's right. And one only wonders what Liu Xiaobo is enduring right now. But thank you very much for reminding us of the power of poetry, the power of the pen. Jeffrey Yang, a poet and translator of the June 4 elegies by Liu Xiaobo, thank you very much indeed and take care.

Now, our Beijing bureau chief Jaime Florcruz, he drove Liu Xiaobo to safety on June 3, 1989. He writes about that experience on our website. It's an incredible story. Jaime is the one in the dark classes pictured there in the photograph.

And you can also find out what happened to other activists and why censorship is still tight 25 years later. You can find it all at CNN.com/China.

Coming up right here on News Stream, two 12-year-old girls accused of attacking their friend and leaving her for dead. Now the police say they were inspired by a fictional online character.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from the waterfront here in Hong Kong. You're back watching News Stream.

Now another national election with an almost guaranteed winner, Syria's presidential poll held on Tuesday. Opposition groups and many western countries say that the vote is rigged. Incumbent Bashar al-Assad is widely expected to win a third seven year term.

The election was held on Tuesday in the midst of the ongoing civil war.

Now former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is hitting out at U.S. policy in Syria. Now remember he left his post about a month ago saying that he could no longer stand behind his own government's position. And he spoke to CNN's Christian Amanpour about the proliferation of terrorist groups inside Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT FORD: This is not a surprise, Christiane. This is not a surprise. We warned, even as long as two years ago, that terrorist groups would go into that vacuum as we had seen in places like Afghanistan and Somalia and Yemen and Mali. This is not rocket science.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Ford says United States needs to put more pressure on Bashar al-Assad.

Now, in the United States, two 12-year-old girls are accused of trying to kill their friend. Now police say that they lured the unsuspecting victim into a park in Waukesha, Wisconsin and they stabbed her 19 times. Authorities say they did it to impress an online fictional character known as Slender Man.

Now Miguel Marquez has more on this deeply disturbing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL JACK, WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN CHIEF OF POLICE: I've been here for over 24 years as a cop in the city of Waukesha and I have not seen a crime of this nature, especially when you take into account 12-year- old girls.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve-year-old Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier are accused of the attempted murder of their 12- year-old friend when police say they lured her into the woods and stabbed her 19 times, leaving her for dead.

(on camera): These are the woods where the stabbing actually happen, several blocks away from the park where all this began. The victim was able to get to this area here where the bicyclist found her nearly dead.

JACK: She was within a millimeter of her life. A millimeter with one of the stab wounds striking a major artery along with the 18 other stab wounds.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Police say Geyser and Weier plotted for months for the best way to kill her friend. According to authorities, they first plotted to duct tape her mouth and stab her in the neck and then changed their plans to lure her into the woods while playing a game of hide and seek.

The motive, say police, to win the favor of a fictional Internet horror character, who the girls found on the horror fantasy website creepypasta.wikia.com.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, "Slenderman" was a fictional character created as part of a joke in 2009. Most of his representations "Slenderman" is this thin, tall, faceless character. The creepy part about the character is in most stories, he kills children.

MARQUEZ (on camera): "Slenderman" character, as I started looking into it, he's every everywhere.

JACK: Yes.

MARQUEZ: Is there a sense they were reading about him and studying him in various forms online, not just Creepy Pasta?

JACK: As far as all their Internet sites, we're going the computer forensic evidence of their computers and such. I would assume it will turn out to be more than just Creepy Pasta, but all sites have to be of concern to parents.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Miguel Marquez reporting.

Now the two 12-year-old suspects, they have been charged as adults, bailed for each set at half a million dollars.

Now you're watching News Stream and coming to you live from Victoria Harbor. And up next, we'll check the world weather forecast.

Also ahead, we'll tell you about nearly a dozen possible tornadoes in the Midwestern United States. Stick around.

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LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream. And if you've been waiting to get World Cup tickets, well listen up. FIFA has put 180,000 extra tickets up for sale on its website. And they're for all 64 matches, the first is just eight days away.

Now on Monday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff got to see what it feels like to hold the World Cup trophy. now Ms. Rousseff said that she hopes to see the home team hoisting it in glory when the tournament ends.

Now time now for your global weather forecast and more severe weather in the Midwestern United States. Details now with Mari Ramos, she joins us from the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, again those strong storms developed in the late afternoon and evening hours across portions of the northern plains as you mentioned.

This picture here behind me a closeup of what is baseball sized hail.

So imagine if you're a little raindrop, gets carried up into the clouds it freezes. It starts to come back down and it starts to melt a little bit, but then it gets caught up again. And every single time that little tiny raindrop will start getting bigger and bigger.

For them to get to the size of a baseball, that must have happened hundreds and hundreds of times, maybe even thousands. And that is how hail forms. And it is the signature of a severe storm.

And look at this, this is what it looks like on the ground in motion. It really does look like baseballs, like someone is throwing hundreds of baseballs in this backyard. And this was widespread across parts of Nebraska.

Really scary situation for people. It caused so much damage to homes, to businesses, downed trees, downed power lines. It ruins crops. Can you imagine if your car was left outside while this is happening? It breaks the windows, it dents the vehicles. Very serious stuff.

Now, this next piece of video that I want to show you is what happened when a possible tornado was moving through there. Winds as high as 120 kilometer per hour were howling across parts of Omaha.

Now one of the things that happened here also Kristie is that they had very heavy rainfall as this storm system was moving through. In Omaha proper, they had 112 millimeters of rain in four hours. Think of it, that their average is 106 for the entire month of May. That's a brand new record set back in 1875, so that rain that you see there, the lightning, and of course a lot of damage happening from that weather system there.

What can we expect? Well, unfortunately a little bit more of the same, hopefully not as severe. But we are looking at two areas for the potential for severe weather. We have some moisture coming in from the south, cooler temperatures across from the north, so several tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are still a possibility across some of these areas as you can see here.

I want to take you south and talk a little bit about our tropical storm -- well, it's a tropical depression now. But it has turned deadly. At least one person has been killed, a girl, a tree fell on her because of the heavy rain and some of the winds that were happening across this region.

Some of the rainfall totals pretty impressive as you can see. Tonala close to where the storm made landfall, had over 300 millimeters of rain in just 24 hours.

The storm is weakening. We're not going to have to worry too much about it anymore, Kristie, but because it's still hanging around, the potential for some very heavy rain remains across this entire region.

Back to you.

LU STOUT: All right, thanks for the warning there. Mari Ramos, take care.

Now 25 years since the crackdown in Tiananmen, there is still so much to discuss. Let's take you back to the live video feed from Hong Kong's Victoria Park where the annual vigil is taking place this year on the 25th anniversary of the crackdown. You can see there scores of people, tens of thousands, if not more, taking part in this candlelight vigil to express support and solidarity to everyone affected by that brutal crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square a quarter century ago in Beijing to demand accountability and acknowledgment from the Chinese government and to also express the freedom that they have here in Hong Kong, unlike in mainland China, the freedom to assemble and the freedom to express themselves.

Now we couldn't bring you all of my interview with the Tank Man photographer Jeff Widener earlier here on News Stream, so we're going to be posting more online in the coming hours. In fact, Widener, he explains not just how he took that famous photo of the Tank Man, but how he managed to smuggle it out past the police. It's a gripping story.

For that and more Tiananmen coverage, just go to CNN.com/China.

And that is News Stream from the Hong Kong waterfront. And we'll leave you with a timelapse of Hong Kong's Victoria Park where the Tiananmen anniversary vigil is now winding down.

And in this time lapse, you can see the crowd pouring into the park earlier today ready to remember, to commemorate the events of June 4, 1989.

The news continues here at CNN. World Business Today is next.

END