Li Peng
Li Peng for the first time on May 18 in an attempt to placate public concern over the hunger strike. During the talks, student leaders again demanded that the government rescind the April 26 Editorial and affirm the student movement as "patriotic". Li Peng said the government's main concern was sending the hunger strikers to hospitals. The discussions were confrontational and yielded little substantive progress, but gained student leaders prominent airtime on national television. By this point, those calling for the overthrow of the party and Li Peng and Deng became prominent both in Beijing and in other cities. Slogans targeted Deng personally, for instance calling him the "power behind the throne".