The Latest: China attacks Pompeo statement on Tiananmen

The large portrait of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate next to Tiananmen Square is seen through the window of car in Beijing, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. Chinese authorities stepped up security Tuesday around Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, a reminder of the government's attempts to quash any memories of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests 30 years ago. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Policemen stand watch as a Chinese honor guard opens the Chinese national flag against the Great Hall of the People during the daily flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square on the 30th anniversary for the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protest in Beijing, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. Critics say the Tiananmen crackdown, which left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead, set the ruling Communist Party on its present course of ruthless suppression, summary incarceration and the frequent use of violence against opponents in the name of "stability maintenance." (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING – The Latest on the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

China has accused U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of smearing its domestic and foreign policies in a critical statement he issued on the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

A Chinese spokesman said in a post Tuesday on the website of the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., that Pompeo's statement "grossly intervenes" in China's internal affairs and is "an affront to the Chinese people and a serious violation of international law."

Pompeo's statement saluted the protesters and urged the Chinese government to make a full public accounting of those killed in the crackdown. It added that America's hopes that China would become a more open and tolerant society have been dashed.

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10:20 a.m.

Chinese authorities have stepped up security around Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, a reminder of the government's attempts to quash any memories of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests 30 years ago.

Extra checkpoints and street closures greeted tourists who showed up early Tuesday morning to watch the daily flag-raising ceremony. An honor guard marched across a barricaded street and raised the Chinese flag.

Foreign journalists were not allowed onto the square to record events.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people are believed to have been killed in 1989 when the government sent in the military to clear Tiananmen Square of protesters in an operation that began the night of June 3 and ended the following morning.

Any commemoration of the event is not allowed in China.