Late Chinese leader Li Peng cremated

 Late former Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng, infamous for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, was cremated here on Monday.

President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Li Zhanshu and several other top politicians attended Li Peng's funeral at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery and offered his family their condolences, Xinhua news agency reported. 

National flags flew at half-mast in various areas in Beijing, including Tiananmen Square, the Great Hall of the People and the Foreign Ministry, as well as in provincial capitals, municipalities, Hong Kong and Macau.

Li, who died last week of an unspecified illness at age 91, was best known as the "Butcher of Beijing" for his role in the military's brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations on June 4, 1989.

The subsequent crackdown led to an unknown number of deaths, although some sources put the figure at over 1,000. 

Li was extolled in an official statement as an "excellent member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a time-tested and loyal communist soldier and an outstanding proletarian revolutionary, statesman and leader of the Party and the state". IANS