 In Beijing this was centred on the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square.The mourning became a public conduit for anger against perceived nepotism in the government, the unfair dismissal and early death of Hu, and the behind-the-scenes role of the "old men", officially retired leaders who nevertheless maintained quasi-legal power, such as Deng Xiaoping.The protests eventually escalated into the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.