#tbt: Chinese security use umbrellas to disrupt CNN coverage of the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen

As the world remembers the student protests and murderous state crackdown that took place in Tiananmen Square 25 years ago, Chinese security forces have locked down the square and the state has practically shut down the internet in its attempt to silence coverage of the anniversary.

On the 20th anniversary in 2009, Beijing proved that it would go to ridiculous lengths to silence discussion of that violent national trauma.

Ridiculous lengths.

Emphasis on the "ridiculous."

When international news media tried to film in the square in 2009, they were targeted by plain-clothes security forces wielding large umbrellas. In a wonderfully passive aggressive maneuver, the umbrella police blocked cameramen and reporters, all the while pretending to be ordinary, oblivious umbrella-holding citizens.

The result was hilarious and horrifying in equal measures.