Since the Gang of Four prohibited open grieving of Zhou Enlai's death, people around Beijing spontaneously went to Tiananmen Square at the end of March and became openly critical of the Gang of Four. Similar to how they had made petty and feeble attempts to undermine Zhou in 1975, the Gang of Four began to try to sabotage the movement in Tiananmen Square. This was a significant miscalculation on the part of the Gang of Four. Knowing that the Gang of Four and others were trying to suppress their emotions, the movement continued to grow, reaching a fervour on April 4th. Hundreds of thousands travelled to Tiananmen Square, completely ignoring the ban on large gatherings. United in their sorrow and anger, the people essentially launched a demonstration against the people who were obviously trying to control their thinking. Not believing that the people were capable of their own thought, the Gang of Four decided that Deng Xiaoping must have acted against them.

After things had settled down that evening in Tiananmen Square, the People's Liberation Army had the posters, wreaths, and other displays of respect removed. When the people arrived the next morning to continue their grieving, they were angered by the elimination of their memorials. With emotions running high, a riot began in Tiananmen Square. The large crowd quickly got out of control, setting police vehicles on fire and forcing their way into government buildings.

The event was labelled "counter-revolutionary" immediately after its occurrence by the Communist Party's Central Committee and served as a gateway to the dismissal and house arrest of then-Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping, who was accused of planning the event, while he insisted that he was only nearby for a haircut. The Central Committee's decision on the event was reversed after the Cultural Revolution ended, as it would later be officially hailed as a display of patriotism.