on 4 june 1989, the beijing government bloodily suppressed the peaceful protest. after the massacre, delegates from more than 200 civil groups elected a 20-member standing committee headed by szeto wah and martin lee to hold the subsequent commemorations and actions. the alliance helped the "operation yellowbird", providing shelters and financial assistance in helping smuggling leaders of the democracy movement out of china. the alliance also set up a database of the democracy movement and published works related to the movement. it also maintain close relationship with the tiananmen mothers initiated by ding zilin, a group of family members of the ones who were killed in the massacre and vocally supported the democracy movements in china. beijing's mouthpiece "people's daily" accused the alliance of having intention to overthrow the chinese government. szeto and lee, who were members of the hong kong basic law drafting committee were unseated by beijing after the duo resigned from the committee after the massacre.