But this apparently did not happen in Beijing. It seems that most hospitals were unprepared to deal with an influx of people suffering from life threatening wounds. Many people whose lives might have been saved died from loss of blood, or from lack of prompt medical attention. In addition, some of the testimonies show that troops prevented people from evacuating the wounded, and a number of people were actually killed while attempting to aid those who had been shot. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel were actively prevented from rescuing the injured.
Some witnesses report that troops said they had orders to prevent the evacuation of the wounded.
Medical teams may have been prevented from moving around the city to transport wounded to hospitals in ambulances. Most wounded were either carried by other citizens or transported on flatbed tricycles to the city's hospitals. In a number of documented cases, the martial law troops appear to have gone beyond even the already excessive levels of force authorized by their orders in their actions during this time. The following are some examples. First, many victims were shot in the back, indicating that they were running away rather than posing any threat to the martial law troops.