In the early morning of May 23, representatives of 89 schools in the Square held a meeting and decided to set up a new square headquarters to replace the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation (BSAF). The BSAF, in turn, went back to the schools to organize support and logistics.

At 10:00am on May 24, at the Tian'anmen Square swearing-in meeting, the "Command Post to Defend Tian'anmen Square" and the "Capital Joint Conference on Patriotism and Constitutional Maintenance" were announced. The Standing Committee had seven members: Commander-in-Chief Chai Ling; Deputy Commander Li Lu; Secretary-General Guo Haifeng; Feng Congde; Zhang Boli; Wang Dan; and Wang Chaohua. The Committee was responsible for unified command of Square operations; the Joint Conference served as backup, supervision and consultant.

At the swearing-in meeting, Chai Ling (acting as commander-in-chief) led 100,000 students to take an oath: "In order to promote the democratic process, to maintain the dignity of the Constitution, to defend the motherland, not to be subverted by a small group of conspirators, and to prevent our 1.1 billion compatriots from living under military terror, I volunteer to use all my life and loyalty to defend Tian'anmen Square, the capital Beijing, and the Republic. Against all odds, I will fight to the end!"

Wang Dan, on behalf of the Joint Conference, issued "The Final Battle of Light and Darkness - Statement on the Current Situation". This stated, "The era of fighting evil with evil has ended; the era of fighting evil with good has begun. We will strive for democracy through peaceful means, and the struggle for human rights is bound to win… The Chinese democratic movement is at a critical juncture of life and death. If the people win, China will begin to move toward the path of healthy development of democracy. All authoritarians and those who would try to prevent historical progress will no longer be able to do so, and will not be able to stop the people's demand for democracy."

References: Zhang Wanshu, "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident"; Wang Dan, "The Memoirs of Wang Dan — From June 4th to Exile"; Feng Congde, "A Tiananmen Journal"; "The Tiananmen Papers"