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1989 Tiananmen Square protests

Ferguson's 'tank man' sparks comparison with Tiananmen

Laura Mandaro
USA TODAY Network
A protester blocks police vehicles as they move down the street in Ferguson, Mo., November 24, 2014. Protestors have taken to the streets angry that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson was not indicted by a grand jury for the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in August.

The photo of a solitary man standing in front of a row of armored vehicles during protests in Ferguson, Mo., late Monday has spawned comparisons with an iconic photo of another famous protest – Tiananmen Square, China.

In Monday's photo, a man stands with his hands raised in front of a row of militarized vehicles on the streets of Ferguson. Police had been preparing for violence if the grand jury failed to charge white police officer Darren Wilson with the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

Wilson was not indicted.

In the wake of the grand jury's decision, thousands flooded the streets in the St. Louis suburbs, where some protests later turned into looting.

On Twitter, some pounced on the comparisons between the two photos. The photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, which China violently ended that year. The Michael Brown shooting has galvanized the civil rights movement, which has organized around the high rate of black arrests.

AP Photo/Jeff Widener, File
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