The Wikipedia article of the day for January 23, 2026 is 2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident.A self-immolation incident took place in Tiananmen Square (pictured) in central Beijing on the eve of Chinese New Year on 23 January 2001. The official Chinese press agency, Xinhua News Agency, stated that five members of Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement, had set themselves on fire to protest the unfair treatment of Falun Gong by the Chinese government. The Falun Dafa Information Center stated that the incident was a hoax staged by the Chinese government to turn public opinion against the group and to justify the torture and imprisonment of its practitioners. The incident received international news coverage, and video footage was broadcast later in the People's Republic of China by China Central Television. The campaign of state propaganda that followed the event eroded public sympathy for Falun Gong, and the government began sanctioning the "systematic use of violence" against the group.
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