it appears that a lot of this money was not received by the various Pro-Democracy groups. A large amount of the money raised overseas was sent to China as cheques or money orders made out to “the Students’ ”Autonomous Union,” “Hunger Strike Headquarters,” “Tiananmen Square Headquarters,” or even just “Tiananmen Square.” Such donations, even if delivered to the student organizations could not be redeemed. Escalating costs of sustaining the protests When the hunger strike started on May 13 the costs of running protests at Tiananmen Square increased. At first the number of hunger strikers was quite small, around 300 students, but as their numbers increased so did the crowds that came to support them. The Financial Department of the BASF was spending 200,000 yuan a day on providing food, water and other supplies. Other organizations had their own financial systems and it was thought that the occupation may have cost several million yuan a day at its peak. Observers in Tiananmen Square have reported that a lack of organization resulted in a tremendous waste of resources during the hunger strike. Liu Xiaobo, commented that almost all of the drinks were thrown away before they were emptied. Half or whole boxes of fast food, half or whole loaves of bread, and other foodstuff were spread everywhere. Rivalries in Tiananmen Square There were rivalries between some of the pro-democracy groups that occupied Tiananmen Square. The Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation focused more on corruption and inflation. They complained about the elitism of the students who wanted to keep their protest pure and initially refused to allow the BWAF to operate within Tiananmen Square. There were also disputes between different student groups. When the Hunger Strike Committee took over leadership on the square the BSAF which had raised nearly one million RMB during the first week of the hunger strike refused to hand the money over. Eventually they gave 100,000 RMB to the Hunger Strike Committee and kept the rest. Later in May the students established a new organization called Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters to manage Tiananmen Square. Because of the intense conflicts among movement activists, General Headquarters had great difficulty getting money out of the BSAF. Allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement The rivalries between the different groups and the absence of financial management resulted in allegations of corruption. Student leaders were even suspected of corruption. Thousands of (US) dollars of contributions, mostly