ABSTRACT
For days, the loudspeakers posted outside the gates of Beijing University had blared out the news about the student occupation of Tiananmen Square, With the domestic news media coming firmly under the control of the hardline leaders by late May, and overseas broadcasts of the Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Service being jammed, this was one of many methods for the students to get their message across to the public at large,
On 3 June, a particularly ominous bit of information was broadcast. There was no way to determine whether it was true but, given the anxiety that had developed since the declaration of martial law two weeks earlier, many seemed willing to believe it. According to the report, several street-cleaning vehicles were parked close to the National Library of China near the Purple Bamboo Garden. When pressed by students and citizens as to what they were doing there, the drivers said they had been ordered there and to ready themselves in case their services were needed. The invasion of Tiananmen Square was only hours away.
