[15] The Beijing Garrison troops were called upon to guard the Great Hall on May 4, for the Asian Development Bank board meeting, and from May 13–17 On May 11, Chinese President Yang Shangkun met with Deng privately to discuss the causes of the student movement, the popular support it was receiving and why it was difficult to halt.

[16] On May 13, as the students embarked on a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, Yang and the CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang gave Deng a private briefing.

[17] Deng, who was the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), expressed the impatience of party elders with the government's inability to end the student movement which had been active for nearly a month.

[17] On the night of May 16, the five members of the CCP Politburo's Standing Committee, Zhao Ziyang, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Hu Qili and Yao Yilin, along with President Yang Shangkun, Bo Yibo, the deputy director of the Central Advisory Commission, held an emergency meeting and agreed to (1) solicit the views of Deng Xiaoping and (2) have Zhao Ziyang negotiate with the hunger-striking students.

[18] That night, the five Standing Committee members could not agree on whether to impose martial law, with Li Peng and Yao Yilin in support, Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili in opposition and Qiao Shi abstaining.

[20] At this meeting, the leadership resolved: (1) to impose martial law on the morning of May 21, (2) hold an expanded meeting with military and Beijing government officials on May 19, (3) have Yang Shangkun make arrangements with the military to establish a martial law command, (4) explain the decision to the two remaining PLA Marshals, Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian, and (5) inform provincial-level party committees of the Party Center's decision.

On May 17, over 1,000 men from the People's Liberation Army's General Logistics Department showed their support for the movement by marching to Tiananmen Square, and they received enthusiastic applause from onlookers.

[13] After attending the meeting at Deng's home, Qin declined to send the martial law order to the military right away, citing the need to receive party approval.

[49] On June 2, Deng Xiaoping and several party elders met with the three remaining Politburo Standing Committee members, Li Peng, Qiao Shi and Yao Yilin.

"[50] At 4:30pm on June 3, the three politburo members met with Central Military Commission members Qin Jiwei, Hong Xuezhi, Liu Huaqing, Chi Haotian and Yang Baibing, PLA General Logistics chief Zhao Nanqi, Beijing Party Secretary Li Ximing, mayor Chen Xitong, State Council secretariat Luo Gan, Beijing Military Region commander Zhou Yibing and political commissar Liu Zhenhua to discuss the final steps for enforcing martial law:[50] That evening, the leaders monitored the progress of the troops from headquarters in the Great Hall of the People and Zhongnanhai.

On the morning of June 3, a bus carrying a company of soldiers in the 27th Army, dressed in plain clothes, and hidden cargo of over 100 assault rifles, five light machine guns, two radios and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition was intercepted by students at Liubukou, just west of Tiananmen Square.

[63] At 6:30 pm on 3 June, the Beijing Municipal Government and Martial Law Command issued an emergency announcement advising citizens to "stay off the streets and away from Tiananmen Square".

[51] The advance of the army was again halted at Muxidi, about 5 km west of the square, where they encountered another blockade made up of articulated trolleybuses that were placed across a bridge and set on fire.

By far, the largest number occurred in the two-mile stretch of road running from Muxidi to Xidan, where "65 PLA trucks and 47 APCs ... were totally destroyed, and 485 other military vehicles were damaged.

[80] The 15th Airborne Corps and 54th Group Army left the Beijing Nanyuan Airport at 2:00 AM, advancing Tiananmen Square from the south, with PAP units serving as the lead elements.

Urban fighters disabled armored vehicles using steel bars from road dividers to break their tracks and wheels, before covering them with blankets doused in gasoline and set on fire.

[38] The 20th Army under future defense minister Liang Guanglie, advanced north from Daxing County, and proceeded to the south of Tiananmen Square through Dahongmen, Yongdingmen and Zhengyangmen.

When the regiment commander told the crowd that his troops were hungry, thirsty and tired, residents brought soda, snacks and fruit and escorted injured soldiers to the hospital.

[83] The second squad of the 1st Armored Division left Sanhe the night of June 3 and encountered numerous roadblocks before its advance was completely halted at Shuangjing, where residents barricaded the road with dozens of trucks and surrounded the convoy.

[83] Division commander Xu Qingren and commissar Wu Zhongming chose not to harm civilians and stayed at Shuangjing for 13 hours from about 6:40 am to 7:40 pm, during which time residents brought food and water to the soldiers.

[51] The 64th Army left its assembly point at the Shahe Military Airport in Changping County north of the city and moved south along Madian, Qinghe, Xueyuan Road, Hepingli, to Deshengmen.

At 3:30 a.m., at the suggestion of two doctors in the Red Cross camp, Hou Dejian and Zhuo rode in an ambulance to the northeast corner of the square and spoke with Ji Xinguo, the political commissar of the 336th Regiment, who relayed the request to command headquarters, which agreed to grant safe passage for the students to the southeast.

[84][95] Larry Wortzel, a military intelligence officer at the U.S. Embassy, stated that he received advance warning of the shooting with exact hours along with buildings and floors to avoid.

[107] Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Deng Xiaoping and his orders were met with resistance from both higher and medium ranking PLA officials after the declaration of martial law.

[108] Many veterans and top military leaders also signed petitions against soldiers using force against the protesters such as: Nie Rongzhen, Xu Xiangqian, Zhang Aiping, and Ye Fei.

[113] On June 6, 1989, two days after the square was cleared, the 27th field army kept their tanks and weapons pointed at the borders of Beijing against potential threats to the CCP, as well as on the suspected disloyal troops.

The unidentified soldier had supposedly shared this story with his mother, and the rumor had spread from there, eventually reaching the ears of Pat Wardlaw, the then Consul General of the United States in Shanghai.

[87] General He Yanran, commander of the 28th Army was court-martialed, and along with political commissar Zhang Mingchun and chief of staff Qiu Jinkai, were disciplined, demoted and reassigned to other units.

Liu Huaqing, the commander of the martial law forces became the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1990, and eventually gained a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee.

Ai Husheng, who led the 347th Regiment to Tiananmen Square while the rest of the 116th Division under Xu Feng defied martial law orders, enjoyed a series of promotions.