China blocks Internet access to Tiananmen Square-related web search terms

Beijing, June 5 (ANI): China has reportedly blocked Internet access to search terms related to the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown against protesters.

On typing terms such as 'six four', '23', 'candle' and 'never forget', in Chinese search engines, the sites give no information to users.

According to the BBC, China's microblogging site, Sina Weibo, has deactivated the candle emoticon, commonly adopted on the web to mourn deaths.

After users responded by trying to replace the banned candle emoticon with the Olympic flame symbol, the website deactivated it too.

According to the report, when trying to search for the unrest, users have been coming across a message explaining that search results could not be displayed 'due to relevant laws, regulations and policies'.

In 1989, troops shot dead hundreds of pro-democracy protesters gathered in central Beijing rallying for democracy.

The demonstrations have never been publicly marked in China, and the government has never said how many were killed.

Meanwhile, the US has urged China to free all those still in prison after the crackdown. (ANI)