[Onthebarricades] CHINA: Protests and unrest, January-June 2009

[global resistance roundup]

* Guangzhou - Residents gather to protest substation
* Hebei - Relatives of tainted milk victims protest at court
* Guangdong - Railway construction halted as displaced residents 
protest; five-day sit-in ends work
* Beijing - Parents petitioning over earthquake deaths stopped by police
* As unemployment rises, protests spread
* Guizhou - Police repression, scuffle over dragon route lead to 
demonstration, injuries; villagers clash with cops over embezzlement
* Shenzen - Workers protest as company folds
* Beijing - Silk market traders protest fake goods label
* How far is China from revolution?
* Beijing - Uighur, Tibetan dissidents self-immolate
* Beijing - Sit-in at export company
* Police undergoing anti-worker training as closures spread
* Qinghai - Tibetans attack police station
* Beijing - Evicted residents stage bold protest
* Beijing - Stockbrokers circulate fliers after collapse
* Hainan - Police station torched after failure to stop fight
* Chongqing - Three Gorges displaced clash with police over missing payments
* Beijing - Protest over claim that petitioners are mentally ill
* Baoding - Workers plan march to Beijing over job losses; factory boss 
fired
* Henan - Hui block roads in protets over racist killing
* Hunan - Taxi drivers' strike turns into mass revolt
* Beijing - Unpaid construction workers occupy building
* Chongqing - Workers block road over unpaid wages
* Beijing - Protest "honours" visiting American politician
* Nanjing - Students revolt over harassment by goons
* Beijing - Massive crackdown to prevent Tiananmen commemorations
* Hunan - Thousands clash with police over land dispute
* Hong Kong - Thousands march to remember Tiananmen
* AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Protest outside embassy
* Nankang, Jiangxi - Hundreds of furniture makers block roads over tax rule
* Courts urged to aid in resolving disputes to head off protests
* Beijing - Petitioners climb onto bridge; attacked by "angry locals" 
claims Chinese press
* Shishou, Hubei - 10,000 resist removal of body in suspicious death 
case; clashes with police "daily occurrence" in China
* Xinjiang - Police murder protester during attack on protest over real 
estate project
* Qinghai - Taxi strike over license change
* Guangdong - Quarry blockaded over compensation failings, home damage; 
police repulsed, taken hostage









http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/03/content_10595502.htm

Residents in China city continue to protest construction of transformer 
substation

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 residents in a community in 
the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou gathered again Friday night to 
protest the construction of a transformer substation in their neighborhood.
Dozens of police were dispatched to maintain order at the construction 
site near the west gate of the community called "Junjing Garden."
No clashes were reported between the protesters and police. According to 
a resident surnamed Wang living nearby, the residents of "Junjing 
Garden" began to gather at around 9:30 p.m. and left by 11:00 p.m.
The residents had gathered Thursday night, demanding a stoppage of 
building the transformer substation. They believed the transformer 
substation would generate radiation and damage their health.
China Southern Power Grid and Guangzhou Municipal Power Supply Bureau 
are in charge of the substation construction.








http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafp090101040511.y1napd26p2&show_article=1

Relatives of the victims of China's tainted milk scandal protest

Relatives of the victims of China's tainted milk scandal protest outside 
the court in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province on December 31, as the trial 
of former head of the Sanlu Group, Tian Wenhua, gets underway.







http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6570566.html

Railway construction halts in S China after villagers protest

20:01, January 08, 2009

A railway construction site in south China's Guangdong Province has 
halted work for five days as of Thursday as a result of protests by 
villagers who were worried about their resettlement.

Zhang Hong, an official with the China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group 
in charge of the construction site of the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway, said 
the company had planned to resume work Thursday, the fifth day since the 
halt began Sunday.

However, about 100 residents of Nangang Village in the suburbs of 
Guangzhou protested at the site, foiling attempts to resume construction.

Workers at the site had been forced to stop work for a week last month 
for the same reason, said Zhang.

"Villagers would throw bricks at our workers if they did not agree to 
stop work," he added.

A villager surnamed Ou said the villagers protested because more than 
100 families, who would have to move away and make room for the railway, 
were worried about their resettlement.

The families had not received any information about where and how they 
would be resettled, Ou told Xinhua.

China started building the 995-km railway between Wuhan, capital of the 
central Hubei province, and the southern Guangdong Province's capital 
Guangzhou in June 2005 and planned to finish it this year.

Source: Xinhua







http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6571450.html

Wuhan-Guangzhou rail work resumes after residents suspend protest

20:04, January 09, 2009

Work resumed Friday on a major railway project in south China after 
local residents agreed to end a five-day sit-in, an official of the 
contractor said.

Tong Guoqiang, an official with the state-controlled China Railway No. 4 
Engineering Group, which is building that portion of the Wuhan-Guangzhou 
Railway, said villagers agreed Thursday to suspend protests for a week 
after they met with local officials and the company.

The suspension cost the company "hundreds of thousands of yuan" a day, 
including wages and equipment costs, said Tong.

Villagers threatened to throw bricks at workers if they did not agree to 
stop work, according to another company official, Zhang Hong.

The residents of Nangang Village in the suburbs of Guangzhou, capital of 
Guangdong Province, protested because 110 households facing relocation 
hadn't received any information about resettlement, villagers said.

Work was suspended for a week last month for the same reason.

"They are likely to resume the protest if they do not get a reply on 
their resettlement in the next week," said Tong.

The line, which would run 968 km from Wuhan, capital of the central 
Hubei province, to Guangzhou, is the longest under construction in China.

Work began in June 2005 and was scheduled to finish at the end of this 
year. The cost is 116.6 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars).

Source: Xinhua






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/09/content_10630655.htm

Wuhan-Guangzhou rail work resumes after residents suspend protest
GUANGZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Work resumed Friday on a major railway 
project in south China after local residents agreed to end a five-day 
sit-in, an official of the contractor said.
Tong Guoqiang, an official with the state-controlled China Railway No. 4 
Engineering Group, which is building that portion of the Wuhan-Guangzhou 
Railway, said villagers agreed Thursday to suspend protests for a week 
after they met with local officials and the company.
The suspension cost the company "hundreds of thousands of yuan" a day, 
including wages and equipment costs, said Tong.
Villagers threatened to throw bricks at workers if they did not agree to 
stop work, according to another company official, Zhang Hong.
The residents of Nangang Village in the suburbs of Guangzhou, capital of 
Guangdong Province, protested because 110 households facing relocation 
hadn't received any information about resettlement, villagers said.
Work was suspended for a week last month for the same reason.
"They are likely to resume the protest if they do not get a reply on 
their resettlement in the next week," said Tong.
The line, which would run 968 km from Wuhan, capital of the central 
Hubei province, to Guangzhou, is the longest under construction in China.
Work began in June 2005 and was scheduled to finish at the end of this 
year. The cost is 116.6 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars).

Editor: Yang Lina






http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/world/asia/09quake.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Police in China Halt Parents Seeking Investigation Into School Collapses

By EDWARD WONG
Published: January 8, 2009
BEIJING — The local police stopped parents who were trying to travel 
secretly from southwest China to Beijing this week to ask the central 
government for a full investigation into school collapses that killed 
their children during the May earthquake, several of the parents said 
Thursday.
A leader of the grieving parents, Sang Jun, who lost his 11-year-old 
son, said in a telephone interview that he had been detained overnight 
and released only after more than 60 other parents gathered at the gates 
of the town government building to demand his release.
The restrictive measures taken by the local government show that the 
widespread destruction of schools during the devastating earthquake on 
May 12 in southwest China continues to be a delicate political issue. 
The number of students who died in the May earthquake is unknown, 
although estimates suggest the figure may be as high as 10,000. They 
died when schools crumbled during the powerful tremor, while in many 
cases buildings around the schools remained standing.
The parents who tried to leave for Beijing on Tuesday are from the town 
of Fuxin, in Sichuan Province, where the No. 2 Primary School collapsed, 
killing at least 126 children, according to the parents. Nearly 60 sets 
of parents from Fuxin joined together to file a lawsuit on Dec. 1 
against government officials and a construction contractor, but the 
court has declined to hear the case. The parents said in interviews in 
December that going to Beijing would be a last resort.
On Tuesday, five parents left Fuxin for the nearby city of Mianyang, 
where they had planned to take a train to Beijing. Police officers from 
the city of Mianzhu, which is in charge of administrating Fuxin, forced 
them to return to Fuxin, Mr. Sang said.
Mr. Sang said he was singled out and taken to another town in the area 
of Mianzhu. He said the police questioned him all night about his work 
as an electrician in a factory several years ago and accused him of 
stealing used factory cables to resell them.
“They said that I had contacted foreign media and called me anti-China, 
antipeople and antiparty,” Mr. Sang said, referring to the governing 
Chinese Communist Party. “They said that I would never win in the battle 
against the Communist Party. I said I was not fighting against the party 
but only trying to demand that the people responsible for the death of 
our children be punished. I’m not scared, because many parents are 
backing me up.”
Because of China’s one-child policy, many of the parents were left 
childless by the quake and are now trying to rebuild their families. 
“About 80 percent of the women whose children died in the school in our 
town have become pregnant, and the authorities don’t dare to hurt them,” 
Mr. Sang said, adding that his own wife was pregnant.
After Mr. Sang was released, the authorities detained two men who once 
worked with him at the factory and also accused them of stealing cables, 
Mr. Sang said. The police told Mr. Sang that unless he dropped his 
activities, the men would not be released, he said. Mr. Sang said he 
agreed to stop for now, and the men were let go.
“We don’t know what to do now,” said Zheng Rongqiong, whose 10-year-old 
daughter also died in the Fuxin school collapse and who was among those 
filing suit. “We were very careful about our plan, and no one knows how 
the government knew about it.”
Huang Yuanxi contributed research.






http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/12/AR2009011203014.html?wpisrc=newsletter

As China's Jobless Numbers Mount, Protests Grow Bolder
Economic Woes Shining a Light On Social Issues

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 13, 2009; Page A07
BEIJING -- For months, the Communist Party had been able to deflect 
anger about factory closings toward the companies themselves. The party 
managed to come off as the benevolent savior by handing out cash to make 
up for unpaid salaries. The strategy stopped working at the Jianrong 
Suitcase Factory in late December.
When offered 60 percent of their wages to disband their protest and go 
home, the workers pushed back at riot police sent to keep them locked in 
their factory compound in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan. 
According to several witnesses, more than 100 irate workers broke 
through the cordon, some shouting, "There are no human rights here!"
As a global recession takes hold and China's economy continues to slow, 
growing legions of unemployed workers are becoming increasingly bold in 
expressing their unhappiness -- expanding a debate over how to protect 
the Chinese economy into long-fought disputes over other issues such as 
freedom of expression and equality before the law.
During most of the past two decades, concerns about China's human rights 
record have been overshadowed by the speed of its economic development 
and growing political influence in the world.
But as the economic crisis has grown, so, too, have challenges -- both 
small and large -- to the state's power.
In late November, two men whose village was involved in a dispute over a 
land deal took ink-filled eggs and desecrated Communist Party and 
national flags in Chongqing, the largest of China's four 
provincial-level municipalities, in a protest that copied the infamous 
defacing of Mao Zedong's portrait in the capital in 1989.

In December, 300 academics and other intellectuals signed a declaration 
of human rights known as Charter '08 that circulated on the Internet, 
sending Chinese authorities on a nationwide manhunt for its author.
Labor rights activist Li Qiang said China's economic problems have put 
the spotlight on social issues that have long existed -- such as the 
growing gap between the urban rich and the rural poor and the fight for 
worker rights -- but were played down by the government during the 
recent boom.
"The crisis in the West is purely economic. But in China it's a huge 
political problem," said Li, director of the New York-based China Labor 
Watch.
The ripple effects of the sharp economic downturn are growing: Crime is 
rising, as are labor strikes by taxi drivers, teachers, factory workers 
and even investors unhappy that their stock market holdings are now 70 
percent off their peak.
Although Chinese authorities have been able to quickly disband the 
recent protests, there is concern that a single national-level event, if 
mishandled by authorities, could lead to a serious political crisis.
"Without doubt, we are entering a peak period for mass incidents. In 
2009, Chinese society may face even more conflicts and clashes that will 
test even more the governing abilities of all levels of the party and 
government," Huang Huo, a reporter for the state-run New China News 
Agency, warned this month in a magazine published by the news service.
The greatest threat may come from the newly unemployed.
Unemployment is now estimated to be at its highest levels since the 
Communist Party took over in 1949. Job creation and preservation has 
become a top priority of China's leaders, who are acutely aware of the 
role a deteriorating economy played in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Economists say that if the growth of China's gross domestic product dips 
below 8 percent -- a healthy rate in most countries -- it would be a 
disaster here. The reason is that the demand for jobs would far outpace 
China's ability to create them.
Estimates by government research agencies for urban jobless top 18 
million, or 9 percent of the workforce -- a rate unimaginably high to 
those who remember the guaranteed cradle-to-grave employment during 
Mao's time. This figure doesn't include the growing number of jobless 
among the 160 million migrant workers who are mostly employed in 
factories. The rural unemployment rate could be as high as 20 percent. 
In addition, 1 million college graduates are not expected to be able to 
find jobs this year.
China's social security minister, Yin Weimin, has said that the 
employment situation in China is "critical," with people fighting for 
jobs that don't exist. This year as many as 24 million people will be 
competing for as few as 8 million newly created jobs.
To combat unemployment, the Chinese government in recent weeks has 
reinstituted controls that in some ways turn back the clock to the "iron 
rice bowl" era that China has tried so hard to leave behind during 30 
years of economic reforms.
Among the most radical measures is an order by some provinces and cities 
that prohibits companies from laying off workers without the explicit 
permission of the government. Other local governments are offering a 
subsidy of about $1,500 for every worker hired who had not already had a 
job elsewhere, and seed money for start-ups that will employ a certain 
number of people. The central government for its part has purchased 
millions of tons of cotton, soybeans, sugar and other products to 
prevent companies from experiencing financial problems that would lead 
to a reduction in their workforces.

And as part of its massive $586 billion stimulus plan -- roughly 15 
percent of its GDP -- China has embarked on several dubious public works 
projects.
A $3 billion metro rail system linking the southern manufacturing cities 
of Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen, for instance, has been criticized 
as a waste of money because there are already four railway lines linking 
the cities and the trains often run empty. Ditto a $4.5 billion highway 
connecting the Sichuan province cities of Chengdu, Zigong and Luzhou, 
because there are already highways from Chengdu to Zigong and from 
Zigong to Luzhou.
A bridge running from just outside Shanghai to a textile manufacturing 
center on the other side of a bay was also resurrected to create 
construction jobs. For years, its designers had been unable to get the 
$2 billion they needed to build it because its route would mostly 
duplicate that of another massive bridge that was already under 
construction.
That changed in November when at least six of the biggest employers at 
the other end of the bridge, in Shaoxing, went out of business. Even 
though there is less need because of the closures, blueprints for the 
second bridge were dusted off and, almost overnight, workers broke 
ground. The project is expected to employ about 250,000 people and 
indirectly provide jobs for 300,000 more.
Liu Bo, a 20-year-old salesman, said he hasn't seen any benefits from 
the government's efforts in his job search yet.
Technically speaking, Liu wasn't laid off but told by his employer, 
which provides sales help to companies during exhibitions, to take an 
unpaid "break" because there was no work. He has been sending out his 
résumé to company after company, but so far nothing. In previous years, 
Liu said, "I used to receive two or three interview invitation calls 
every day whenever I sent out my CV, but now there is really nobody who 
calls me." He is not hopeful about the government efforts: "I never want 
to depend on the government."
Liu is not the only one to discover the limits of China's deep pockets.
For all the help it is giving workers at factories in the export-heavy 
region of Guangdong province on the country's southern border, the 
government simply can't afford to pay every worker every yuan they are owed.
Now dealing with the third month of protests and sit-ins, the government 
has been gradually reducing its cash payouts to laid-off workers.
The workers at the Jianrong Suitcase Factory, who make an average of 
about $220 a month, finally accepted the government's money and went 
home after their bosses couldn't be located. But it was not without a 
fight that left workers with scrapes and bruises and, more important, 
resentment over their fate.
Still, the Jianrong workers are among the lucky ones. Tong Hengxin, a 
headhunter in Guangzhou, said some laid-off factory workers are getting 
back much less from the government, only a third of what they rightfully 
earned. With job prospects bleak, that money can't last long. As a 
result, Tong said, the mood is desperate: "Workers are always 
threatening to jump from the buildings and commit suicide."
Researchers Liu Liu, Liu Songjie, and Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed 
to this report.










http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9682AT80&show_article=1

Protests in southern China leaves handful in hospital: watchdog

Feb 9 07:41 AM US/Eastern Comments (0)

(AP) - HONG KONG, Feb. 9 (Kyodo)—(EDS: FIXING 2ND GRAF FROM BOTTOM)
A Hong Kong-based human rights watchdog said Monday a dispute between 
dragon dancers and police who demanded different dragon dancing routes 
in southern China's Guizhou Province on Sunday has left five people in 
hospital.
The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy also said 
villagers in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south of Guizhou, 
protested Sunday over a land dispute and clashed with police, leaving 
three people in hospital.
In the scuffle in Guizhou over dragon dancing routes, about 50 people 
were injured, five of whom remained in hospital in the Dejiang county as 
of Monday.
Dragon dancing is a festive activity for the people in Dejiang on the 
14th and 15th day of the lunar new year.
When police barred the dragon dancers Sunday from performing in the 
middle of the street, chaos broke out and led to a massive demonstration 
outside the county government office.
The Hong Kong-based watchdog said as many as 10,000 people gathered at 
the building, damaging the building and two police cars. About 1,000 
police officers were deployed to handle the situation.
The government, on its website, said the dispute was resolved as a safe 
route was negotiated with the performers. The statement did not mention 
if anyone was injured or arrested, but rather it said claimed there was 
no public unrest.
The second incident, which occurred in Dakui village of Guangxi's 
Yangjiang City, 20 people were injured, including three seriously, in 
scuffles between some 2,000 protesters and 1,500 police officers who 
were deployed to the scene.
The protesting villagers accused the village committee of embezzling at 
least 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) in connection with sea 
reclamation projects, the watchdog said.
It said the villagers demolished the committee building, blocked major 
roads and threw rocks at police.






http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/02/workers-protest-as-italian-sofa-maker-folds-in-china/

Workers Protest As Italian Sofa Maker Folds In China
 From AFP:
Over 2,000 factory workers in China launched a protest after their 
employer, an Italian maker of luxury sofas, closed down in the wake of 
the global financial crisis, local authorities said Thursday.
DeCoro, a leather upholstery producer with a factory in the southern 
city of Shenzhen, ran into liquidity problems last year and from 
November was unable to pay wages on time, the Shenzhen government reported.
On January 8, the workers went on strike in protest over not having been 
paid for two months, according to a statement from the city government 
faxed to AFP.






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/b-china/2009/02/07/195074/China-silk.htm

February 7, 2009 10:28 am TWN, Reuters
China silk market traders protest 'fake goods' label
BEIJING -- Stall owners at Beijing's Silk Street Market, for years 
famous for its knock-off designer ware, protested at a law firm 
representing trademark holders this week after seven were suspended for 
selling pirated goods.
Fifty people crammed the hallway and banged on walls at the 11th-floor 
office of IntellecPro, whose clients have an anti-piracy agreement at 
the market, an employee surnamed Peng said by phone.
“For the last two days they have disrupted our regular work schedule, 
making a scene and shouting,” Peng said.
The crowd demanded evidence that the suspended shopkeepers had sold 
pirated products and hung a sign on the wall reading, “You want to get 
rich, we want to fill our stomachs,” the Beijing News said on Thursday.






http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/02/liang-jing-how-far-is-china-from-revolution/

Liang Jing, How Far is China from Revolution?
Overseas political commentator Liang Jing’s new piece, translated by Dr. 
David Kelly, China Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney:
Hu Jintao did two things over the Chinese New Year. First, he revisited 
Jinggangshan [legendary revolutionary base area]; [1] and second, he 
went to Nanchang Railway Station to “look into rail tickets.” [2] Fun 
was poked at Hu’s visit to Jiangxi; my interpretation is rather that 
fear of a new revolution erupting has enveloped the hapless Hu.
Could another revolution take place in China? More and more people are 
pondering this question. No one, however, can have thought about it more 
and for longer than Hu Jintao. Terror was the main reason for Deng 
Xiaoping and the CPC patriarchs’ reacting so irrationally to the 
demonstrating students and public on June 4th 1989, twenty years ago: 
they feared a revolution breaking out suddenly and divesting them of 
their power.
It now appears that Hu Jintao, who thanks to June 4 could assume the 
mantle of “heir,” far back in the decade as “Crown Prince” when he 
failed to establish anything or advance his knowledge, allowed the fear 
of losing his “throne” and that of the Communist Party losing control of 
the nation to merge and suffuse his bloodstream. Seeing the growing 
split between rich and poor and official corruption out of control, Hu 
Jintao’s fear of the revolution continued to grow as well. I have been 
told that, on one inspection visit Hu, noticing the unbridled profligacy 
of local government, said using a Mao-laced phrase, “this will send them 
up to the mountains,” meaning that this state of affairs would drive the 
people into the hills to oppose the Party.
The problem is that someone completely dominated by fear can accomplish 
nothing; and this is a clue to grasping the trajectory of Hu’s rule. In 
the last six years, the issues apparent to Hu Jintao prior to his taking 
power—economic imbalance, official corruption, harm suffered by the 
peasantry, pollution of the environment—have, far from being resolved, 
all become more serious. Now, the sudden global financial crisis has 
claimed the jobs of tens of millions of migrant workers, and it may well 
be that Hu Jintao’s fear of the outbreak of revolution has mounted to a 
new level, and revisiting Jinggangshan was an inscrutable choice driven 
by his subconscious fear revolution. Jinggangshan is symbolic of China’s 
Red revolution, what exactly was the political message Hu Jintao sought 
to convey on this occasion? The speculation on this visit is precisely 
that he in fact failed to convey any message whatsoever.
Going to Nanchang Station to “see about rail tickets” was another none 
too adroit “show of oneness with the people.” This choice too was 
connected with Hu’s fear of revolution. Everyone knows that if another 
revolution were to break out in China, the myriad migrant workers would 
be the main force. At present, the plight of large numbers of laid-off 
migrant workers may well become a factor triggering an explosive 
revolution. Hu Jintao’s concern about large numbers of unemployed 
migrant workers being stranded in the coastal cities is far from 
groundless, but the problem can the problem be solved by improving the 
sale of train tickets? The annual “migrant worker tide” would moreover 
place an unbearable shock loading on any country’s normal capacity.
What is of real interest is, how many unemployed mainland migrant 
workers are stranded in the coastal region and major cities? How many of 
these are unable to return home because they can’t buy tickets? The 
cover article of the latest issue of Caijing magazine, “Survey of 
migrant worker unemployment” provides us with important 
infadriotormation. [3] This investigation report, which Caijing’s 
reporter took three months and interviews conducted in six provinces and 
municipalities to complete, reveals the picture of migrant worker 
survival about which the Chinese government is itself unclear, and which 
it does not want the outside world to know.
Over 10 million migrant workers have gone home early, the report says, 
due to loss of employment. But the most shocking fact is that the figure 
for unemployed migrant workers who have not returned home is many times 
greater. It says “the migrant workers’ loss of employment seriously hits 
their income growth, reversing their over 6% income growth since 2004; 
the new generation of unemployed migrant workers hesitate in the 
urban-rural margin, bringing factors of instability to both urban and 
rural society; their return increases disputes and conflicts over rural 
land, exacerbating the man-land contradiction inherent in the 
countryside; governments at all levels have failed to make adequate 
preparation for migrant workers’ employment and training, protection of 
their rights and interests, support of their business ventures, and so 
on; their unemployment and return home highlights the lag in 
urbanisation, and presents an obstacle to transforming China’s economic 
growth model.”
This means that there are tens of millions of unemployed migrant workers 
who don’t want to or can’t go back to their hometowns, and for whom 
governments at all levels in China are unprepared, because for more than 
a decade, they have always believed that the world demand for Chinese 
factories could only increase and not decrease; and even if the migrant 
workers lost their employment, they had a piece of land waiting for them 
at home, hence there was no need to worry about social problems brought 
about by large numbers of them stranded in the city.
Hu’s visit to Nanchang “to see about tickets” showed that he can’t 
accept this fact, preferring to believe they were stranded due to their 
inability to buy train tickets. History has told us many times that if 
those in power lack the courage and ability to face real challenges, the 
possibilities they most fear are quite likely to become self-fulfilling 
prophecies. Today, the greatest danger of a revolution in China comes, 
in fact, is terror induced by the leaders’ incompetence.
Following June Fourth, Deng Xiaoping and the CPC patriarchs, in their 
fear, made their most foolish decision: bestowing an unprecedented 
concentration of power on an unprecedentedly incompetent successor. If 
the CPC cannot shed the enormous danger to China brought about by Hu 
Jintao’s incompetence and fear, another revolution in China is really 
not far off. This revolution, however, will not proceed into the 
mountains to wage guerrilla war, but will “first of all occupy the 
central cities.”
* 梁京: “中国革命有多远?”
[1] See “Hu Jintao chongshang Jinggangshan rang Zhongguo hen niuqi” [Hu 
Jintao's revisit to Jinggangshan makes China quite bullish], Hongwang, 
26 January 2009 [： "胡锦涛重上井冈山让中国很牛气"， 红网，2009年1月 26日.].
[2] See Bi Xiaozhe, “Zongshuji huochezhan ‘wenpiao’, nai ren xunwei” 
[General Secretary 'looks into tickets' at the railway station, provides 
food for thought], Zhongguo wang, 26 January 2009 [毕晓哲、毕晓哲： "总 
书记火车站"问票"，耐人寻味"， 中国网，2009年1月 26日.].
[3] Chang Hongxiao, Ren Bo and et al., “Nongmin gong shiye diaocha” 
[Survey of migrant workers' loss of employment], Caijing, 4 February 
2009 [常红晓、任波： "农民工失业调查"， 财经，2009年2月 4日 .].







http://www.examiner.com/x-2086-NY-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2009m2d26-3-protesters-set-themselves-on-fire-in-Beijing

3 protesters set themselves on fire in Beijing

February 26, 11:15 AM • Add a Comment

Tibetan exiles shout slogans against Chinese rule in Tibet during a 
protest march in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009. (AP 
Photo/Manish Swarup)
Hong Kong Daily Ming Pao News reported the self-immolation of three 
people, two of which have been identified as Uighur (a Muslim minority 
in China), as well as a Tibetan. The three apparently drove a car into 
downtown Beijing and parked it less than a mile from Tiananmen Square. 
As police approached the vehicle, it burst into flames.
Reporters at the scene were apparently filming the event. Since 
Tiananmen Square is heavily guarded, it did not take long for police to 
arrive.
There is no doubt that this was a protest against Chinese treatment of 
both the Tibetan people and the Uighur tribes, on which they have 
cracked down quite severely. Though the report itself plays down the 
incident as one where three people wanted an audience for their 
"individual problems".
Chinese police rescued the 3 from the burning car, and they were taken 
to a nearby Jishuitan Hospital and treated for burns. According to the 
report, they are out of danger. The article concludes by calling this an 
'unfortunate incident' which the Chinese try to handle as quickly as 
possible so as not to disrupt the daily lives of citizens.
Ironically, the protest comes on the heels of China blasting the United 
States in what it sees as interference in its private affairs. See the 
AP full report here. Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released its 
annual report on human rights in which it cited China, Myanmar and 
Vietnam as having poor to dismal records insofar as human rights abuses 
are concerned. And yet, Secretary of State Clinton all but ignored the 
subject while she called on China last week.






http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ityI4hhbamYtzTIj86Z068KAJUTw

Chinese workers protest at Panasonic TV tube maker
5 days ago
BEIJING (AFP) — A crisis-hit Sino-Japanese TV tube maker's restructuring 
plan that could lay off 1,000 people at a Beijing plant led to a sit-in 
by hundreds of workers, an employee said Tuesday.
More than 200 workers at Beijing Matsushita Color CRT, a joint venture 
with investments by Japan's Panasonic, held the protest last week after 
the plan to cut the firm's production lines from five to three was 
announced, an executive told AFP.
"The crux of the matter is that the plan to downsize conflicts with the 
employees' interests," he said, adding the scheme could cause around 
1,000 workers to lose their jobs.
Under the plan, workers were offered an average 10,000 yuan (1,465 
dollars) in severance pay for each year they have worked for the 
company, said the executive, who declined to be named.
But most employees thought the compensation too low, said the executive, 
who has worked for the company for 18 years and is also facing redundancy.
Toshihiko Shibuya, a spokesman for Panasonic, said the so-called 
"internal structure reform plan" was created because demand for cathode 
ray tubes, the company's main product, which is used to make TV sets, 
had slumped amid the global financial crisis.
He added that the joint venture, which currently employs 2,600 workers, 
booked losses last year and had halted production to reduce its inventory.
However, the restructuring plan would not be implemented before an 
agreement was reached with employees and the trade union, he said.
Panasonic reported a net loss of 378.96 billion yen (3.92 billion 
dollars) for the financial year to March, its first annual loss in six 
years.
The electronics giant, which is cutting 15,000 jobs and closing dozens 
of plants, said it expected to lose 195 billion yen in the current 
business year to March because of poor demand and the cost of restructuring.






http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-prepares-to-clamp-down-on-workers8217-protests-1628960.html

China prepares to clamp down on workers’ protests
Police undergo training to deal with labour unrest as millions of jobs 
are lost in economic downturn
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Sunday, 22 February 2009

AFP
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meeting China's President Hu 
Jintao yesterday in Beijing
The Chinese authorities are training police forces around the country to 
deal with potential labour unrest as unemployment rises at its fastest 
rate for decades. President Hu Jintao has called on the army to remain 
loyal in the face of growing discontent at the first downturn many 
Chinese have ever experienced.
The global economic slump has already led to 26 million migrant workers, 
out of an estimated 130 million in China, losing their jobs. Collapsing 
export markets for Chinese toys, shoes and electronics have caused the 
closure of 670,000 small and medium-sized companies in the country, many 
of them based in the manufacturing areas of the south.
Workers have protested in the one-time boom towns of southern China’s 
industrial belt as foreign companies pull out. Outlook magazine, 
published by the official Xinhua News Agency, has warned that slowing 
economic growth may provoke anger, in particular among migrant workers 
and university graduates, and senior security officials have held 
conferences on how to stop instability taking hold.
Economic growth rates of about 8 per cent are needed to keep generating 
jobs in China, but the forecasts for this year are lower. The People’s 
Bank of China reckons remittances from migrant workers in the rich 
cities account for nearly two-thirds of an average rural family’s 
income, and the slowdown poses a major threat to stability in a country 
where the wealth gap between the urban rich and the rural poor is 
already wide. The Communist Party is concerned that the economic crisis 
could lead to unemployed farmers taking to the streets.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who was in China yesterday 
during an Asian tour, said the new Obama administration would stress 
co-operation with Beijing on the economy and climate change, rather than 
human rights. Before her trip she said: “When you think about the 
drastic rise in unemployment in China, many would argue that that’s a 
human rights issue. There’s going to be a lot of suffering that will 
come from that.”
Sun Chunlan, vice-chair of the government-controlled All-China 
Federation of Trade Unions, warned union leaders and local government 
officials that massive unemployment could seriously affect national 
stability. “Be on guard for hostile forces from both home and abroad 
that use the problems that businesses are facing to infiltrate and 
undermine the migrant workforce,” she was quoted on the People’s Daily 
newspaper website.
This June sees the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In 
1989 a faltering economy caused workers to join students seeking greater 
political freedoms, and an alarmed political elite sent in the tanks to 
crush dissent. This year, with up to seven million graduates coming on 
to a tight job market, the government is taking steps to ensure social 
unrest does not threaten single-party rule.
President Hu has made dealing with the economy the chief task of the 
Communist Party. Speaking at the headquarters of the People’s Armed 
Police at Chinese New Year, he made what was seen as a veiled reference 
to the threat of social unrest when he called on the police to “engage 
in comprehensive military training, step up patrols, and boost their 
capability in handling emergency situations”.










http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hSkNASZnZPMtnqSjC0-M4XnO5Hwg

China police station attacked near Tibetan areas
8 hours ago
BEIJING (AFP) — A police station in a part of northwestern China near 
Tibetan-populated areas was attacked early on Sunday, leaving two police 
officers hurt, state media reported.
The brief dispatch by Xinhua news agency said the incident occurred in 
Xining, capital of Qinghai province, which neighbours Tibet and has a 
substantial Tibetan population.
It gave no other details besides saying the incident was under 
investigation.
The report comes amid a heavy security crackdown in Tibet and adjacent 
Tibetan areas to prevent unrest during this month's 50th anniversary of 
an uprising against Chinese rule.
It also comes a day after China launched a new national holiday for 
Tibetans called "Serf's Liberation Day" to mark what the government 
calls the emancipation of Tibetans from the "feudal" rule of the 
now-exiled Dalai Lama.
Calls to police and government offices in Xining went unanswered on Sunday.
State media last week reported an incident on Tuesday in which three 
traffic police officers in Xining were surrounded and beaten by a group 
of men as they intervened to sort out a routine traffic accident.
The report, issued Thursday by China National Radio, said two of the 
officers were sent to hospital in stable condition, and that one of the 
assailants was arrested. The others were still being sought, it said at 
the time.
Violent outbursts by people upset with police or the government over 
perceived injustices are common in China.
But Sunday morning's incident comes amid high tension in Tibetan areas 
due to the March 10 anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising after which 
the Dalai Lama, the Himalayan region's spiritual leader, fled into exile.
On March 21, an angry mob attacked a police station in Rabgya, a 
mountain town about 300 kilometres (186 miles) from Xining that is known 
in Chinese as Lajia and home to a large monastery, Xinhua reported at 
the time.
It said 93 monks, most from the Rabgya monastery, were taken into 
custody by police following the incident.
China has ruled Tibet since 1951, after sending in troops to "liberate" 
the region the previous year, and Beijing has long maintained that its 
rule ended a Buddhist theocracy that enslaved all but the religious elite.
But the Dalai Lama and his followers allege China has carried out a 
systematic campaign of repression in Tibet that has nearly extinguished 
its unique Buddhist culture.
Last year, widespread anti-China demonstrations and riots erupted in 
Tibet and other nearby provinces with large Tibetan populations on the 
uprising's 49th anniversary.






http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=170133

Beijing protesters attempt bold march on capital

Chinese police on Thursday rounded up several dozen evicted home owners 
who planned to make a bold protest march to the nerve-center of the 
country's communist leadership.
The motley group of around 70 Beijingers, mostly elderly and middle 
aged, offered no challenge to well-prepared security forces who swept 
down before they had even set off, Reuters witnesses said.
But as economic turmoil stokes discontent across the country, their 
audacious attempt to submit a letter directly to populist Premier Wen 
Jiabao is likely to alarm China's rulers.
The heavily guarded Zhongnanhai compound, a modern Forbidden City that 
has been home to generations of communist leaders, has long been a risky 
magnet to people with grievances.
One of the largest protests was by the now-banned Falun Gong group which 
marshaled over 10,000 followers in 1999.
Their dramatic sit-in unnerved a government obsessed with stability. 
Beijing soon outlawed Falun Gong, labelled it an evil cult, and cracked 
down on anyone who refused to renounce it. Han Xiaofeng, an unemployed 
47 year-old who helped plan Thursday's protest, told Reuters he was not 
afraid.
The group says they were cheated of their homes by corrupt officials who 
said the land was needed for the Beijing Olympic Games, but then used it 
to build a luxury housing complex. "Even if we are arrested, I'm not 
worried. There are people in this country who care," he said.
20 March 2009, Friday
REUTERS BEIJING






http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7119191

Beijing Protesters Attempt Bold March on City Heart
By Emma Graham-Harrison
March 19, 2009
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police on Thursday rounded up several dozen 
evicted home owners who planned to make a bold protest march to the 
nerve-center of the country's communist leadership.
The motley group of around 70 Beijingers, mostly elderly and middle 
aged, offered no challenge to well-prepared security forces who swept 
down before they had even set off, Reuters witnesses said.
But as economic turmoil stokes discontent across the country, their 
audacious attempt to submit a letter directly to populist Premier Wen 
Jiabao is likely to alarm China's rulers.
The heavily guarded Zhongnanhai compound, a modern Forbidden City that 
has been home to generations of communist leaders, has long been a risky 
magnet to people with grievances.
One of the largest protests was by the now-banned Falun Gong group which 
marshaled over 10,000 followers in 1999.
Their dramatic sit-in unnerved a government obsessed with stability. 
Beijing soon outlawed Falun Gong, labeled it an evil cult, and cracked 
down on anyone who refused to renounce it.
Han Xiaofeng, an unemployed 47 year-old who helped plan Thursday's 
protest, told Reuters he was not afraid.
The group says they were cheated of their homes by corrupt officials who 
said the land was needed for the Beijing Olympic Games, but then used it 
to build a luxury housing complex.
"Even if we are arrested, I'm not worried. There are people in this 
country who care," he said.
Han used to rent out rooms, but since his home was confiscated he has 
been forced to earn a living picking through rubbish for waste that can 
be sold to recycling firms, he said.
"ONLY OUT FOR A STROLL"
Taking a leaf from middle-class professionals who have in the past two 
years successfully derailed a high-tech train project and forced a 
petrochemical plant to shift location, the mostly working-class 
protesters said they were only "out for a stroll."
They did not carry banners, or shout slogans.
"I'm just out walking, what is illegal about that?" Han asked a 
plainclothes policeman who cordoned off the group.
Most of the protesters were shepherded into the National Library and 
then taken to a police station. A few made it to Zhongnanhai but were 
told to get in a police van and driven off.
Protests about land turned over to development are common in rural 
areas, where corruption sometimes runs rampant and farmers deprived of 
their fields feel they have little left to lose.
But many Beijingers have also suffered in the scrabble to remake China's 
capital over the past two decades, evicted by unscrupulous developers, 
cheated of compensation, or paid so little they can afford only poor 
substitutes for former homes.
Han said he and more than 1,000 other families from their corner of the 
city's relatively prosperous eastern Chaoyang district are among those 
victims.
Some were given just 2,500 yuan ($366) for each square meter of their 
low-rise courtyard homes, while others were still waiting for 
compensation, said protester Wang Jingmei.
Chaoyang authorities declined immediate comment.
Many of the protesters say they are living in basements, tiny rented 
rooms, or squeezed in with friends and relatives, while the high-rise 
apartments that replaced their homes are selling for as much as 8,000 
yuan ($1,170) per square meter, Wang said.
The group went to complain to city authorities last December, but said 
they were laughed at by officials. When the office closed and they 
refused to leave, they said two women were assaulted.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie)





http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96RNTVO0&show_article=1

Chinese protestors scatter fliers after stock market loss

Mar 11 04:06 AM US/Eastern Comments (0)

BEIJING, March 11 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A group of Chinese men who suffered 
losses in the plunging stock market climbed to a building rooftop in 
Beijing on Wednesday and scattered fliers criticizing the country's 
stock market watchdog.
The group consisting of about 20 people threw several tens of thousands 
of copies of the pamphlets from a 11-story building in Beijing's central 
Xidan district, covering the streets below with the fliers before being 
detained by police about 30 minutes later.
The protestors called out to the public below saying "Everyone!" before 
throwing down the fliers, which fluttered down on the pedestrians.
The protestors had also hung a 30-meter sign criticizing the China 
Securities Regulatory Commission. Police immediately came to the area 
after the demonstration began, putting the area off limits to 
pedestrians and collecting the pamphlets.
According to the fliers, the protestors were angered by the issuance of 
warrants around 2006 by an airline totaling about 10 billion yuan ($1.46 
billion). Individual investors suffered major losses from them because 
of a subsequent drop in stock prices.
Stock prices in the Shanghai Stock Exchange hit a record-high in October 
2007 but subsequently lost about 70 percent of the gains in a year.





http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/417606/1/.html

Call for calm after violent protest in China
Posted: 25 March 2009 1314 hrs

BEIJING: Officials are scrambling to restore peace in a rural area of 
south China after a teenage brawl caused a violent riot with an angry 
mob setting a police station ablaze, state media said Wednesday.

Hundreds of people from a village in the tropical island province of 
Hainan gathered outside a local government building Monday claiming 
authorities had failed to properly intervene after the fight, the 
official China Daily said.

According to a local newspaper, the Hainan Daily, a student from one 
village had been slightly hurt by assailants that were suspected to be 
school children from a neighbouring village.

The student's relatives and friends subsequently descended on the local 
government building after going to the police, and the group attracted 
more and more onlookers, the local newspaper reported.

By Monday evening, the crowd had swelled to several hundred people, and 
some of the protesters set fire to parts of the local government and 
police buildings, and destroyed three cars and 10 motorcycles, the 
Hainan Daily said.

At least two bystanders were injured in the protest, the China Daily said.

Calm had since returned to the area, but financial losses from the 
protest were expected to exceed one million yuan (US$150,000), the paper 
reported.

China sees tens of thousands of demonstrations every year, many of which 
stem from dissatisfaction with local authorities.

- AFP/yb






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/24/content_7611805.htm

Local govt seeks to restore calm after violent protest
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-24 21:22
Comments(1) Print Mail
GANCHENG TOWNSHIP - The government of Dongfang City, Hainan Province, 
sent 12 work groups to calm villagers following a violent protest that 
stemmed from a high school brawl, a senior official said Tuesday.
A township government building and a local police station were damaged 
in the villagers' protest, the city's Party chief Wang Heshan said. At 
least two bystanders were injured in the incident.
Wang told Xinhua the work groups, totaling more than 100 officials, went 
into all villages under the jurisdiction of Gancheng Township, about 250 
km southeast of the provincial capital of Haikou, early Tuesday.
The provincial department of public security said police were not 
involved in dealing with the protest.
Hundreds of residents of Gancheng Village protested in front of the 
township government building Monday afternoon, after two or three middle 
school students from Gancheng and Baoshang Villages were involved in a 
fight, according to Fu Bo, the chief public relations official of 
Dongfang City.
Gancheng has had a troubled relationship with Baoshang for decades, with 
frequent brawls between residents of both villages, each having a 
population of about 10,000.
Gancheng villagers blamed the township government for not properly 
handling the village dispute in Monday's protest. The villagers claimed 
that several children had been beaten by unidentified people and the 
local government and police had not intervened.
The protest became violent at about 7 p.m. Monday when the Gancheng 
villagers damaged the government building and set fire to the local 
police station. The crowd had dispersed by 1 a.m. Tuesday.






http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10560229&ref=rss

Clashes as dam money goes missing
4:00AM Friday Mar 06, 2009

BEIJING - More than 2000 people displaced by construction of the Three 
Gorges Dam have clashed with police in central China during a protest 
over missing resettlement payments, leaving 30 protesters injured, a 
Hong Kong-based group said.
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said villagers in 
Jiannan township of Chongqing city blocked a road and clashed with 
hundreds of police, overturning two police cars.
The villagers suspected officials had embezzled 10 million yuan ($1.5 
million) in reimbursement owed to villagers for losing their homes to 
the Three Gorges Dam, the group said.
A man who answered the phone at the Jiannan public security bureau said 
he did not know anything about the incident.
More than 1.4 million people had to be moved to make way for the 
construction of the $22 billion dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric 
project, completed in 2006.
The dam was built to end flooding along the Yangtze River and provide a 
clean energy alternative to coal, but it has been riddled with problems, 
from resettlement to landslides.

- AP







http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/263588,chinese-petitioners-protest-mentally-ill-label.html

Chinese petitioners protest 'mentally ill' label

Posted : Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:17:53 GMT
Author : DPA

Beijing - A Peking University professor apologized after hundreds 
protested in front of the campus against his claims that people who 
petition the government are mentally ill, local media reported 
Wednesday. Professor Sun Dongdong was quoted in the March 23 edition of 
China Newsweek magazine as saying that 99 per cent of people who 
repeatedly petition, or make complaints to the government, are mentally 
ill.
"Putting them in hospital is the best insurance we have, as they are a 
danger to society and themselves. The best way to protect their human 
rights is to keep them indoors, give them treatment and promote their 
spiritual recovery," he was quoted as saying.
Nearly 300 people rallied outside the university on Monday and Tuesday, 
according to activists quoted in the Hong-Kong based South China Morning 
Post.
Sun apologized in a statement on the China News Service on Monday 
afternoon.
"Some of the content, due to an inappropriate use of language, caused 
some dispute and misunderstandings. I deeply regret this. If some of the 
content hurt some people's feelings, then I sincerely apologize. I also 
truly hope they (the petitioners) will be able to solve their problems 
through legal channels," he said.
Under China's petition system, citizens are allowed to challenge 
government or judicial decisions by filing grievances with designated 
bureaus, which are then required by law to provide a response.
But there have been many reported cases of petitioners being sent to 
mental institutions by locals authorities to silence them.
The state-run Beijing News reported last December that residents of 
Xintai in Shandong province were institutionalized after complaining 
about local corruption and the unfair seizure of property.
They were released only after agreeing to give up their causes, the 
article said.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/04/12/2003440851

Professor draws more protests
BIAS:: Chinese petitioners and their supporters fear that Sun Dongdong’s 
essay would bolster the practice of placing petitioners in institutions 
for the insane

AP, BEIJING
Sunday, Apr 12, 2009, Page 4

Detained Chinese petitioners in a bus hold up a paper reading “Unjust” 
near Peking University in Beijing, China, yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
Chinese security forces on Friday stopped and detained dozens of 
protesters who tried to storm a university to confront a professor who 
said nearly all petitioners are mentally ill and should be put away.
Law professor Sun Dongdong’s (孫東東) comments, published in a March 
issue of China Newsweek magazine, triggered outrage among petitioners 
who routinely flock to Beijing by the thousands to air complaints after 
their local governments ignore them.

About 40 people gathered outside the elite Peking University gates on 
Friday morning, scattering leaflets and shouting for the professor to 
come out to talk to them. They tried to pass through the gates, but 
dozens of security forces stopped them. They were then put into buses 
and taken away.

The incident capped more than a week of demonstrations outside the 
university. So far, dozens of protesters have been sent away on buses or 
taken away by police, other protesters and state media said.

The situation has drawn fresh attention to the plight of petitioners — 
mostly from China’s vast and poor countryside — who have come to 
symbolize the country’s failure to build a justice system that ordinary 
Chinese consider fair.

More than a case of hurt feelings, petitioners and their supporters 
worry that Sun’s essay will be used to further lend a professional gloss 
to the practice of placing petitioners in mental institutions.

“There’s very good reason behind these worries,” said activist lawyer Li 
Heping (李和平), who has taken on many rights cases.

“Nowadays, there is an overflow of cases involving petitioners being 
forced into mental hospitals,” he said. “After being labeled as a mental 
health patient, one loses all rights.”

The system has its roots in China’s imperial past, when people 
petitioned the emperor. It survived after the Communists took power with 
“letters and visits” to offices at every level of government to handle 
grievances. The number of people flooding into the capital in recent 
years has ballooned, as awareness of legal rights and their infringement 
by local officials has grown.

But local officials have resorted to various methods outside of the law 
to stop them, including sending thugs or police that place them in 
illegal detention centers in Beijing or force them to return home, 
fearing the grievances will reflect badly on them.

Late last year, the state-run Beijing News newspaper reported on the 
plight of petitioners placed in mental institutions in eastern Shandong 
Province, with some forced to take psychiatric drugs and told they would 
not be released until they signed pledges to drop their complaints.

The government says it receives between 3 million and 4 million letters 
and visits from petitioners each year, but rights groups put the figure 
in the tens of millions.

Sun is an associate professor at the law department and head of the 
university’s forensics department, which also helps court authorities 
evaluate the mental health of defendants. A well-known adviser to the 
Ministry of Health, he is also involved in drafting China’s first mental 
health law, state media said.

He quickly issued a public apology, but his critics have dismissed it as 
insincere. His department said he was not available for an interview on 
Friday.






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-04/10/content_7664367.htm

College protest against professor's 'insane' words
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-10 07:44
Comments(4) Print Mail
BEIJING -- More than 200 protestors have held an angry vigil at Peking 
University since Wednesday in response to a professor's controversial 
remarks on mentally-ill petitioners, and more than 50 have been removed 
by police, a university official said Thursday.
Sun Dongdong, head of the university's judicial expertise center, set 
off a firestorm by suggesting in the March 23 issue of China Newsweek 
that 99 percent of people who repeatedly petition the government were 
mentally ill.
Although he has since apologized, many would not let it go at that.
Protestors have rallied in front of the university with banners saying 
"We demand an explanation from Sun Dongdong" and some demanded to see 
Sun and the university's president, said Miao Jinxiang, a senior 
official with the university.
"Some protestors demanded that Sun should be fired," he added.
Miao said although Sun's letter of apology had been distributed to the 
protestors, they refused to leave.
"More than 50 protestors who refused to leave were taken away by police 
as of Thursday noon," he said.
In an online statement Monday, Sun said he had "absolutely no prejudice 
against those petitioners" and would take care with his words and 
behavior in the future.
Miao said no protestors had entered the campus.





http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/420063/1/.html

China workers' protest march stopped
Posted: 04 April 2009 1645 hrs

BEIJING: Authorities in northern China said Saturday they were trying to 
solve a job losses row that sparked protests by factory staff, but a 
protester said workers remained skeptical and angry.

More than 1,000 workers were prevented Friday from marching 140 
kilometres (90 miles) to Beijing from the city of Baoding to protest the 
closure of their textile factory.

"The government has now told us they will solve our problem but have 
given no timeframe," a former worker at Baoding Yimian Textile, who gave 
only his surname Yang, told AFP.

"They might just be using this as a pretext to stop us going to 
Beijing," he said.

The factory, which employs around 4,000 people, had been shut for a week 
when the march began, another worker said on Friday.

Employees angered by the closure of the factory set out on bicycle and 
foot from Baoding in Hebei province to Beijing to present a petition to 
the government, a centuries-old tradition.

They were angered by a factory restructuring plan that includes cutting 
jobs, and said a severance offer was insufficient.

Local authorities talked them out of the march and provided buses to 
bring them back to Baoding, demonstrators said.

Officials and protesters said there was no violence.

Zheng Ran, an official with Baoding's government, said authorities were 
meeting to discuss the issue.

Many factories in China's export-dependent economy have closed down or 
cut staff as worldwide consumer demand has dried up in recent months, 
prompting official fears of potential unrest as huge numbers of workers 
are laid off.

"The workers are unhappy but no one cares, so we decided to march to 
Beijing to petition," said Yang.

"Many workers were at the factory a long time and given only a small 
severance. How can you not get angry?"

- AFP/yt






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/04/content_11130848.htm

Party chief sacked after textile workers' protest march

SHIJIAZHUANG, April 4 (Xinhua) --Authorities in north China's Hebei 
Province fired the Party boss of a local textile factory after more than 
1,000 workers went on a protest march over privatization, job cuts and 
other grievances.
The decision to remove Wang Lijuan from the position of Party secretary 
of the Yimian Group, was read out by Lan Baoliang, head of the 
organization department of the Baoding City Committee of the Communist 
Party of China (CPC), at a workers rally Saturday morning.
Wang was replaced by Zhang Yanru, chief of the Baoding City State Assets 
Commission. The board of directors also suspended her job as its 
chairwoman.
More than 1,000 workers of the group began a 140-kilometer hike Friday 
from Baoding city to Beijing to protest the malpractice of the management.
The workers were stopped by government officials near Xushui county. All 
of them returned to Baoding early Saturday aboard buses at the 
persuasion of government officials.
Founded in 1994 on the basis of the Baoding No.1 Cotton Textile Factory, 
Yimian group was once among the top 50 textile companies in China.
The state-owned company was sold to Hong Kong-based Yafang group in 
January 2004.
The new owner promised to inject 50 million U.S. dollars into the 
company and properly handle its employees.
But according to vice mayor Liu Baoling, none of the promises were kept.
Before Friday's protest march, some Yimian Group workers aired 
grievances to the Baoding City Government and the company on March27 
about 400 job cuts and poor treatment. They also complained that the 
group always pays their salaries one month later.
Liu said at Saturday's rally that he had been interviewing workers about 
existing problems within Yimian for the past eight day.
Liu admitted problems in the privatization process and said: "The 
government will work together with the workers to press the Hong Kong 
investor to fulfill its responsibilities."
"We will try the best to solve the problems via negotiations. But if it 
has to be solved in the court, the government will bear the fees," said 
Liu.
He said it is wrong for the Yimian group to pay workers one month behind 
and that the group must correct this mistake immediately.
People from the departments for disciplinary inspection, public security 
and the procuratorate went to Yimian to make further investigations 
Friday, according to Si Cunxi, secretary for disciplinary inspection of 
the Baoding City CPC Committee.
Deputy Party Secretary of Baoding City, Li Jianfang, pledged to 
investigate into what he called an inherited problem and vowed to bring 
to justice whoever is responsible.
He appealed for workers' support to the government investigation, which 
he said will be fast and efficient.

Editor: Deng Shasha






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-04/04/content_7649092.htm

Long march to protest lay-offs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-04 09:38
Comments(6) Print Mail
SHIJIAZHUANG: More than 1,000 people began a 140-km hike from Baoding, 
Hebei province, to Beijing on Friday to protest job losses at a textile 
company.
The hike started at 8 am, from the Hebei Baoding Yimian Group premises, 
which has about 4,000 employees.
The protesters, carrying luggage, headed to Beijing along National 
Highway 107 on foot and by bicycle. They planned to petition the 
government over the company's restructuring, said a protester who 
refused to be named.
Xinhua






http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1468433.php/Hui_protesters_block_roads_in_China_after_bus_death_

Hui protesters block roads in China after bus death
Asia-Pacific News
Apr 2, 2009, 10:56 GMT
Beijing - Protestors from China's Hui Muslim minority blocked three 
bridges in the central province of Henan after a Han Chinese bus driver 
accused of killing a Hui Chinese was released by police, sources said 
Thursday.
Up to 1,000 people took to the streets in Luohe, unhappy with the 
200,000-yuan (29,000-dollar) compensation offered to the family, 
according to a statement by the Information Centre for Human Rights and 
Democracy.
There have been ongoing conflicts between Hui and Han residents in 
Luohe, the Hong Kong-based human rights group said, adding that the 
protest, which it said occurred Tuesday through Thursday, was organized 
to coincide with a meeting between the local government and visiting 
Taiwan politician James Soong.
A local shopkeeper and witness who estimated protestor numbers to be 
several hundred, said she couldn't ride her bike across one of the 
blocked bridges.
A representative from the local police traffic bureau who refused to 
give his name confirmed the protest took place but said it was held only 
Wednesday.
He said the 'government had been quite patient' with protestors, adding 
that members of the Hui community would 'use any reason to make trouble.'






http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090412-134870.html

China police act as strike becomes riot

Sun, Apr 12, 2009
AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - - Police in the central Chinese city of Yueyang have 
detained 11 people after a massive taxi strike developed into a riot 
with drivers beaten and cars smashed, state media said.
The strike began Friday, when the drivers, unhappy with the amount of 
money they must hand over to their companies, parked their cars in front 
of city hall and refused to move, Xinhua news agency reported.
The situation developed Saturday, as more drivers joined the strike, 
some being dragged out of their cabs and forced to participate, 
according to the agency.
Some taxi drivers who refused to go along were beaten up while their 
cars were smashed, Xinhua said.
The striking drivers were angry because they must pay up to 7,100 yuan 
(1,040 dollars) every month to their companies, it reported.
Observers have warned that the global crisis and the economic downturn 
in China could lead to more instances of unrest.





http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/11-rioters-detained-in-China-cab-strike/articleshow/4391212.cms

Chinese police detain 11 in cab strike riots
AP 12 April 2009, 10:40am IST
BEIJING: Police in central China detained 11 people accused of rioting 
during a strike involving 1,000 cab drivers, state media reported.

Cab drivers in Yueyang, a city in Hunan province, went on strike to 
demand a reduction in monthly fees paid to their cab companies, the 
official Xinhua News Agency said late Saturday.

Xinhua said dozens of drivers started parking their cabs Friday in front 
of the city's government building. Rioting started when some of the 
drivers smashed cabs and hit other drivers who did not join the strike, 
Xinhua said.

Police had detained 11 people by Saturday, the report said. Each cab 
driver pays monthly fees to taxi companies that operate in the city, 
ranging from 6,400 yuan to 7,100 yuan ($940 to $1,040) a month, Xinhua 
said.

The report cited Han Jianguo, the city's vice mayor, as saying the 
municipal government has set up a team to study the problem.

Calls to the press office of the Yueyang city government and the 
propaganda department of the city's public security bureau rang 
unanswered Sunday.
Last year, mass strikes by taxi drivers partially shut down nearly a 
half dozen cities across the country, including the mega-city of 
Chongqing and the southern island resort of Sanya.

Chinese authorities are particularly worried this year about the 
possibility of mass unrest given the impact of the global financial 
downturn on the country's economy.





http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1470273.php/Unpaid_construction_workers_protest_in_Beijing_

Unpaid construction workers protest in Beijing
Asia-Pacific News
Apr 11, 2009, 3:04 GMT
Beijing - More than twenty construction workers occupied a 17-storey 
apartment block in Beijing, demanding their unpaid wages, state media 
said Saturday.
The workers occupied a residential building of real estate project 
Zhujiang Augusta in Beijing's Tongzhou district for three hours on 
Friday afternoon, the official news agency Xinhua reported.
Guo Yanjun, the workers' leader, was quoted as saying that they had not 
received any payment even though the project was almost complete.
Workers were owed 400,000 yuan (59,000 dollars) by the project owner, 
the report said.
Problems with unpaid wages are common in China's construction industry, 
which is staffed largely by migrant workers.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 5.8 per cent of the 
country's migrant workers had been affected by wage arrears as of the 
end of 2008.
The global economic crisis has raised concerns that more companies could 
default on wage payments.
'As the financial crisis bites deeper, some small enterprises that are 
struck the most try to reduce their economic losses by laying off 
migrant workers or refusing to pay them,' the state-run China Daily said 
in an earlier opinion piece.
'Those employers who deliberately rip off workers by refusing them their 
payments should be punished in accordance with the law,' the paper said.
In this latest case, Xinhua reported that the local government will help 
workers negotiate a solution.






http://english.sina.com/china/2009/0410/232953.html

20 workers occupy block of flats in Beijing wages protest
2009-04-10 16:02:17 GMT2009-04-11 00:02:17 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- More than 20 construction workers occupied 
a 17-floor block of flats, demanding their wages, in Beijing on Friday.
The workers climbed up to a residence building of a real estate project 
called Zhujiang Augusta at 2:00 p.m., demanding their wages, police said.
The building, in Majuqiao Town of east Beijing's Tongzhou District, was 
surrounded by nearby residents and other workers. Fire engines, 
ambulances and police cars arrived at the site.
The workers left the building top by 5:10 p.m. after police tried to 
persuade them, police said.
No conflicts happened, police said.
The workers' head named Guo Yanjun tried to negotiate with the project 
owner.
The contractors had not paid the workers at all while the project was 
nearly finished, Guo said.
Guo said he had borrowed more than 400,000 yuan (about 59,000 U.S. 
dollars) to pay the wages for 100 workers, while the other 400,000 yuan 
had not been paid.
As of 6:00 p.m., the two sides were still negotiating.
The town's government said it will help to solve the problem.





http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97I3LIO0&show_article=1

400 protest in S.W. China over unpaid wages+

Apr 14 02:27 AM US/Eastern
BEIJING, April 14 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A protest that started in southwestern 
China over unpaid wages grew on Tuesday as 400 workers blocked a road in 
the city of Chongqing, state media said.
The workers, from state-owned textile company Jindi Industry Group Co., 
claim that many among them had not been paid for the past three months, 
Xinhua News Agency reported.
It said some 300 protesters had started to gather on the road in front 
of the company on Monday night, but returned home because of low traffic 
volume. The workers returned on Tuesday and their numbers swelled to 
400, disrupting traffic, the agency reported.

Xinhua said the textile industry has been hard hit after demands for 
Chinese textile products dropped drastically as a result of the global 
financial crisis, and Jindi could not afford to pay workers' wages.
The economic downturn has seen an increase in the number of protests by 
workers around the country.
A strike by taxi drivers in the southern province of Hunan over the 
weekend saw violence break out, with state media reporting that striking 
drivers were protesting the high fees charged by taxi companies.
Amid growing government concern over unrest stemming from the economic 
slowdown, top officials last year stressed the importance of providing 
the public with more ways of airing grievances.







http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5607216

Beijing protest honours Pelosi's visit
AFP May 27, 2009, 10:23 pm

AFP
BEIJING (AFP) - At least 100 Chinese with grievances against their 
government staged a protest in honour of US congresswoman Nancy Pelosi 
in Beijing Wednesday, little more than a week before the Tiananmen 
anniversary.
The protesters, or petitioners, from all parts of China, gathered in 
front of the news office of the State Council, China's cabinet, passing 
out leaflets and scrawling graffiti on the office gates.
"Pelosi we warmly welcome you, Pelosi we love you," they wrote in red 
paint on the gate of the compound in central Beijing. "Human rights 
matter, down with corruption."
Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives and a vocal critic 
of China's rights record, is visiting China for meetings on the nation's 
climate change agenda.
The protests occurred as she held meetings Wednesday with China's top 
leaders, including President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and 
parliamentary head Wu Bangguo.
Up to 50 uniformed police and an equal number of plainclothes officers 
quickly cordoned off the area around the gate of the news office, 
dispersing the crowd and scrambling to pick up their discarded leaflets.
These appeared to mostly detail the petitioners' personal complaints, 
typically about land and economic disputes, police brutality and medical 
malpractice.
The protest came a week ahead of the anniversary of the June 4 crushing 
of the Tiananmen democracy protests, when the military violently ended 
six weeks of peaceful protests, killing hundreds if not thousands of 
unarmed citizens.
Protesters said up to 1,000 petitioners, who had come to Beijing to urge 
the central government to address their complaints, had attended the 
demonstration, snarling traffic in front of the news office.
The number could not be independently confirmed.
By the time AFP journalists arrived, more than 100 protesters were seen 
lingering outside the police cordon.
Several were seen being taken away by police, with protesters saying up 
to 20 had been carted off in police vehicles.
"You can't take her away," one protester, Han Dongmei, shouted as police 
tried to load her wheelchair-bound 11-year-old daughter into a waiting 
police van.
A group of six policemen eventually picked up the screaming Han, her 
sobbing daughter and the wheelchair and loaded them into the van.
Han has petitioned the government since 2005, when doctors in western 
China's Xinjiang region mistakenly gave her daughter an injection for 
cerebral spinal meningitis, which paralysed the girl from the waist down.
"After all these years, the government has not been able to resolve our 
problem," Han said in her petition document which she gave AFP.
"Instead our rights have been violated, and because we have been seeking 
justice, we have become criminals in the eyes of some officials."
China's parliamentary head Wu recently ordered local authorities to stop 
petitioners from bringing their grievances to the central government in 
Beijing -- a centuries-old tradition -- and ordered such issues to be 
resolved locally.
But petitioners say they have only brought their cases to Beijing 
because local officials refuse to adequately resolve their complaints.
Pelosi's visit comes as President Barack Obama's administration appeared 
to relax rights demands on China in an effort to work with Beijing on 
matters such as the economic downturn and the nuclear-weapons issues 
surrounding North Korea and Iran.






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/21/content_7914609.htm

Nanjing denies report of protest
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-21 09:50
Authorities in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, denied yesterday that 
university students had been victimized by "chengguan", or urban 
management officers, who were enforcing orders against sidewalk stalls.
"No university student was setting up sidewalk stalls on Monday night in 
the square (in Jiangning district)," the city's publicity security 
bureau said in a statement to China Daily.
Hundreds of students were reported to have protested following an 
incident on Monday night in which the "chengguan" allegedly attacked 
women university students who set up sidewalk stalls in the square.
The statement said no one was beaten or verbally abused.
"Some of the students had mistakenly thought that two people escorted 
from the scene by officers were students, which led to students and 
citizens forming a crowd," it said.






http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/world/asia/05beijing.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=global-home

Hong Kong Pays Tribute to Tiananmen Protesters While Beijing Stays Silent

Elizabeth Dalziel/Associated Press
Police stopped journalists from reporting near Tiananmen gate, across 
from Tiananmen Square, in Beijing on Thursday. More Photos >

By SHARON LaFRANIERE and KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 4, 2009
BEIJING — China blanketed Tiananmen Square with police officers on 
Thursday, determined to prevent any commemoration of the 20th 
anniversary of a military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that 
left hundreds dead.
Nicholas D. Kristof, an Op-Ed columnist who was Beijing bureau chief for 
The Times in spring of 1989, recalls the city's mood and the student 
protests leading up to June 4, 1989.
Visitors to the sprawling plaza in central Beijing were stopped at 
checkpoints and searched, and foreign television crews and photographers 
were firmly turned away. Uniformed and plainclothes officers, easily 
identifiable by their similar shirts, seemingly outnumbered tourists.
A few pursued television cameramen with opened umbrellas trying to block 
their shots — a comical dance that was shown on CNN and the BBC. There 
was no flicker of protest. Other than the intense police presence and 
the government’s blockage of some popular Internet services, the 
scorching hot day passed like any other in the capital.
The scene was vastly different in Hong Kong: throngs gathered at a park 
on Thursday evening for an enormous candlelight vigil on the 20th 
anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests.
The organizers said 150,000 people joined the vigil, tying the record 
set by the first anniversary vigil in 1990 and dwarfing every subsequent 
vigil. The police estimated the crowd at 62,800, their largest estimate 
for any vigil except the one in 1990, which they put at 80,000.
Hong Kong, returned by Britain to Chinese rule in 1997, is still 
semiautonomous and is the only place in China where large public 
gatherings are allowed to mark the anniversaries of the 1989 protests 
and killings.
The peaceful assembly spilled out into nearby streets, shutting down 
traffic. Inside Victoria Park, thousands listened to songs and speakers 
who recounted the events on the night of the crackdown. A half-hour into 
the vigil, the lights in the park were extinguished and the attendees 
lighted a forest of white candles in inverted conical paper shields.
Around the park on Thursday, numerous banners in Chinese demanded the 
vindication of the students and other Beijing residents who perished 
during the Chinese government crackdown. There were people of all ages, 
from gray-haired retirees to young children whose parents accompanied 
them to explain why they felt so deeply about an event that took place 
before the children were born.
Gary Leung, a 42-year-old interior designer, went with his two 
daughters, ages 8 and 4.
“I want to see Tiananmen vindicated,” he said. “I feel very old — I hope 
the apology will come before I die, and if not, my children will 
continue the struggle.”
China’s government has tried hard over the years to obliterate the 
memory of the huge student-led protests that shook the Communist Party 
and captivated the world for weeks. It stepped up efforts on the 
mainland to enforce a public silence before the 20th anniversary.
In a report released Thursday, the rights group Chinese Human Rights 
Defenders said 65 activists in nine provinces had been subjected to 
official harassment to keep them from commemorating the anniversary. Ten 
have been taken into police custody since late May, while dozens of 
others are under police guard at their homes or have been forced to 
leave their towns, according to the report.
Nearly 160 Web sites have been shut down for “system maintenance” to 
prevent users from mobilizing online, the report said.
A Chinese official reacted angrily to a call by Secretary of State 
Hillary Rodham Clinton for a full public accounting of the incident. 
“The U.S. action makes groundless accusations against the Chinese 
government,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, told reporters at a 
regular briefing. “We express strong dissatisfaction.
“The party and government have already come to a conclusion on the 
relevant issue,” he said. “History has shown that the party and 
government have put China on the proper socialist path that serves the 
fundamental interests of the Chinese people.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton urged China to publish the 
names of the dead, missing or detained when the military crushed the 
protest, saying an accounting would help China “to learn and to heal.”
“A China that has made enormous progress economically and is emerging to 
take its rightful place in global leadership should examine openly the 
darker events of its past,” her statement said.
She urged Chinese authorities to release all prisoners still jailed for 
taking part in the demonstrations and to stop harassing bereaved 
relatives, who have formed a group called Tiananmen Mothers.
The president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, who has fostered closer ties with 
the mainland, also urged China to confront the episode. “This painful 
period of history must be faced with courage and cannot be intentionally 
ducked,” he said in an unusually strong statement.
Beijing newspapers were largely silent on the day’s significance. The 
state-run China Daily led with a story about job growth signaling 
China’s economic recovery.
Access was blocked to popular Internet services like Twitter, and to 
many university message boards. The home pages of a mini-blogging site 
and a video-sharing site said that they would be closed through Saturday 
for “technical maintenance.”
Some Internet users tried to evade the censors by referring to June 4 as 
May 35 on electronic bulletin boards or message sites. Others proposed 
wearing white, the Chinese traditional color of mourning, as a form of 
protest.
One government notice about the need to seek out potential troublemakers 
apparently slipped onto the Internet by mistake, remaining just long 
enough to be reported by Agence France-Presse. “Village cadres must 
visit main persons of interest and place them under thought supervision 
and control,” read the order to Guishan township, about 870 miles from 
Beijing.
Jiang Qisheng was imprisoned for four years in 1999 after he published a 
letter asking the government to reassess the June 4 crackdown. “They 
started watching me in my apartment building on May 15,” he said in a 
telephone interview Thursday morning from his Beijing apartment.
Ding Zilin, a retired professor and activist whose son was killed in the 
crackdown, told The Associated Press: “They won’t even allow me to go 
out and buy vegetables. They’ve been so ruthless to us that I am utterly 
infuriated.”
A former student leader of the demonstrations, Wu’er Kaixi, was detained 
Wednesday night at the airport in Macao, a special administrative region 
in China. On Thursday he was sent back to Taiwan, where he lives with 
his wife and two children.
Mr. Wu’er, 41, now an investment banker, said he wanted to surrender to 
Chinese authorities and face trial because he had not seen his parents 
in 20 years. “I also want to be in a courtroom so that I can talk,” he 
said in an interview Wednesday night from an airport detention room.
“We dissidents in exile, that’s what we do,” he said. “We try very hard 
to come home, all of us, but the door is shut very tightly.”






http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK265966.htm

Thousands clash with police in Chinese city -rights group
07 May 2009 02:44:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, May 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters clashed with police 
in front of a municipal government building in south China in the latest 
in a series of land disputes, a human rights group reported. At least 20 
people were injured.
Tuesday's protest was triggered by a villager's death in the dispute in 
Liling, Hunan province, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human 
Rights and Democracy said.
The Xiaoxiang Morning Post said a villager had been beaten to death by 
employees of a construction company which wanted to use vegetable fields 
to build a stadium.
"Some villagers went to municipal government to petition," the paper 
said. "Related departments are trying to prevent the situation from 
escalating."
China's Communist Party values stability above all else, especially 
ahead of sensitive anniversaries, such as the June 4 20th anniversary of 
the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's 
Tiananmen Square.
Protests and incidents of "mass unrest" have risen in China in recent 
years, sparked by grievances including official abuse of power, land 
seizures and labour disputes. (Reporting by Yu Le and Nick Macfie; 
Editing by Valerie Lee)









http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5629544

Hong Kong protesters mark Tiananmen anniversary
ABC June 5, 2009, 5:34 am
Organisers say more than 150,000 people have crowded into Hong Kong's 
Victoria Park for a candle-lit vigil to mark the 20th anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre.
The main stage had a huge huge banner with Chinese writing that said: 
"June the 4th, 20 years, passing the fire to the next generation."
The commemorative rally is the only event of its kind on Chinese soil, 
possible because Hong Kong enjoys semi-autonomy from the mainland.
It has become a touchstone both for the democracy movement in China and 
for the campaign to overturn Beijing's official verdict condemning the 
1989 protest.
Hundreds of people died, perhaps thousands, when Chinese troops moved 
against the protesters, although Being has never officially put a figure 
on the death toll.
Xiong Yan, a student leader in Tiananmen Square in 1989, says he was 
surprised to be allowed into Hong Kong on the weekend and is expected to 
speak at tonight's rally.
Other former Tiananmen protesters were denied access to Hong Kong.
The Chinese Government has attacked the United States over its attitude 
to the anniversary.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people were killed two decades ago when 
Chinese Government used the People's Liberation Army to crush a mass 
student movement.
Chinese workers also joined the conflict, attacking the tanks with 
bricks and bottles.
It is not known how many people were killed.
Now United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on China 
to release the names of those who died.
But China's Government spokesmen Qing Gang has attacked the move.
"The US makes groundless accusations against the Chinese Government," he 
said.
"We express our strong dissatisfaction."





http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1022047/Protests-outside-Chinese-consulate

Protests outside Chinese consulate
04 June 2009 | 12:53:58 PM | Source: AAP

Protesters gather outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney to mark the 
twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (AAP)

A convoy of cars has sounded horns outside the building on Thursday.

The 17 cars, some decorated with the slogan reading "Never Forget June 
4", had earlier left the Campsie home of former Chinese security guard 
Liyong Sun, who witnessed the massacre.

Other cars joined along the way before arriving at the consulate in 
Camperdown just before noon (AEST).

On June 4, 1999, soldiers of the Chinese army ruthlessly put down 
pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds 
of people.

Mr Sun said June 4 was always a sad day for him.

"I'm very angry about that time. On the evening of the third of June I 
saw the first injured person at Tiananmen Square," he told AAP.

"We never thought the Communist Party would use the regular army to kill 
civilians."

Mr Sun was imprisoned for seven years following the massacre, for 
issuing a public underground magazine called Democrat China, later 
renamed The Bell.

He joined the Tiananmen Square protest from April 7 to June 3, 1989.

On the evening of June 3, he felt bullets pass over his head.

"A lot of our Beijing civilians threw bricks at tanks," he said.

"The tanks moved rapidly at the civilians. They had to run away. The 
soldiers shot at us with sub-machine guns towards the street where we 
turned. We had to hide behind a building."

Mr Sun left the square at 9.30pm that evening.

He estimates 1,000 people were killed and between 5,000 and 10,000 injured.






http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5627985

Protests hit Chinese consulate in Sydney
AAP June 4, 2009, 4:45 pm
Protesters from Sydney's Chinese community dressed in white and carried 
banners bearing the names of people killed in the Tiananmen Square 
massacre to mark the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on students.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed by soldiers of the 
Chinese army in the June 3-4 massacre in 1989 that ended seven weeks of 
pro-democracy protests at the Beijing square.
A convoy of 17 cars arrived at the Chinese consulate in Camperdown, in 
Sydney's inner west, just before midday (AEST) on Thursday.
The cars were decorated with white flowers, flags, photos of victims and 
slogans including "Never Forget June 4" and the drivers sounded their 
horns as they drove past the consulate.
Some of the cars began the journey at the Campsie home of Liyong Sun, a 
former security guard who witnessed the infamous massacre.
Other cars joined the convoy along the way.
Police looked on as about 50 protesters gathered outside the consulate's 
metal doors.
Many of the protesters wore white and had bandannas branded with the 
word "democracy" wrapped around their heads.
Mr Sun said June 4 was always a sad day for him.
"I'm very angry about that time. On the evening of the third of June I 
saw the first injured person at Tiananmen Square," he told AAP.
"We never thought the Communist Party would use the regular army to kill 
civilians."
After the massacre, Mr Sun was imprisoned for seven years for editing an 
underground magazine called Democrat China, later renamed The Bell.
On the evening of June 3, 1989, he felt bullets pass over his head.
"A lot of our Beijing civilians threw bricks at tanks," he said.
"The tanks moved rapidly at the civilians. They had to run away. The 
soldiers shot at us with sub-machine guns towards the street where we 
turned. We had to hide behind a building."
He used the anniversary to call for the release of eight political 
prisoners still being held in Beijing over the protest.
"They have been in prison for 20 years. Two of them are 70 years old," 
he said.
"We ask the Chinese regime to release them immediately and unconditionally."
Foreign journalists were barred from entering Tiananmen Square on Thursday.
On Wednesday news reports about the massacre were abruptly cut off with 
screens periodically going black on the BBC and CNN in China.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat to China, 
said the Tiananmen protesters' demands for greater freedom in the 
communist state were yet to be fulfilled.
"These of course remain challenges with which the Chinese government 
today is grappling," he said in parliament in Canberra on Thursday.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull expressed sorrow that there was still 
a reluctance in China to acknowledge the cause and effects of the 
"brutal crackdown" in 1989.
He called for the protesters to be remembered, and one day, honoured.








http://www.nowpublic.com/world/hong-kong-protest-timeline

Hong Kong protest timeline
Share:
by Steventhompson38 | June 5, 2009 at 02:23 am

Hong Kong's citizens have a long and proud tradition of taking their 
grievences onto the streets. Unfortunately, they have been wasting their 
time. The latest in a series of protests over the years has been about 
losses from Lehman Brother mini-bonds. Protesters set up shop in front 
of the branches of the banks that sold them these so-called toxic assets 
and make a large amount of noise (particularly during lunch time). The 
idea is to draw attention to their plight and to disrupt the business of 
the branch during its peak hour. Unfortunately, these mostly old folk 
are only inconveniencing other old folk, because only por pors frequent 
bank branches nowadays. The protesters have noticed this, and, so, at 
some less popular branches, they resort to simply playing a recording of 
their protest. The first picture in the attached video montage is of the 
Cenotaph in Central, adorned with banners and floral tributes to the 
fallen after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. The event 
significantly changed the political landscape in Hong Kong, with greater 
calls for democracy – the echoes of which are beginning to slowly fade. 
The photograph was taken on June 8, 1989. The next photograph, taken in 
the mid-1980s, shows one of several pensioners setting up their 
bi-lingual banners outside the Legco Building in Central. I believe they 
are protesting about the loss of their land. The next shot, from the 
early 90s, is of a protest in Central, which was organized every year. 
The demonstrators are asking for donations to fund various causes. In 
this case, they were planning to go without food for 30 hours in the 
name of democracy. More recently, Falun Gong protesters have been 
quietly camped on Battery Path in Central for quite a while now. They 
have to protest there for fear of being beaten by the thousads of 
patriots that cross th border into Hong Kong. The final picture is of 
Lehman mini-bond protesters outside Citibank's Pedder Street branch 
getting dressed up at lunch time for their daily bout of protesting. 
Bless 'em. They won't get a cent, but they won't listen. In fact, for 
all the protests mentioned above, none have really succeeded - but you 
can't say they didn't try. The photograph of the Fight for Queen's Pier 
was taken with a tinge of sadness because my wife and I set off on our 
journey to our wedding reception in a British Army launch from Queen's 
Pier, so the demonstrations to preserve the pier in 2007 had some 
personal significance. Unfortunately, as with anything more than 20 
years old, the pier was ripped down to make way for another highway that 
no one will use.





http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009302955_china05.html?syndication=rss

June 5, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified June 5, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Throng of protests in Hong Kong
In Tiananmen Square, police were ready to pounce at the first sign of 
protest. In Hong Kong, a sea of candles flickered in the hands of...
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN and JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
The Associated Press
ED JONES / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Thousands attend a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park on 
Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of Beijing's crackdown on 
protesters in Tiananmen Square.
BEIJING — In Tiananmen Square, police were ready to pounce at the first 
sign of protest. In Hong Kong, a sea of candles flickered in the hands 
of tens of thousands who vented their grief and anger.
Two contrasting faces of China were on display Thursday, the 20th 
anniversary of the military's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy 
demonstrators — from Beijing's rigid control in suppressing any dissent, 
to freewheeling Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that 
enjoys freedoms all but absent on the mainland.
Tiananmen Square was blanketed by uniformed and plainclothes security 
officers ready to silence any potential demonstration, and there were 
few hints that the vast plaza was the epicenter of a student-led 
movement that was crushed on June 3-4, 1989, shocking the world.
Police barred foreign journalists from entering the square and 
threatened them with violence.
Chinese and foreign tourists were allowed in Tiananmen as usual, 
although security officials appeared to outnumber visitors.
Dissidents and families of victims were confined to their homes or 
forced to leave Beijing, part of sweeping government efforts to prevent 
online debate or organized commemorations of the anniversary.
But in Hong Kong's Victoria Park, a crowd chanted slogans calling for 
Beijing to own up to the crackdown and release political dissidents. 
Organizers estimated its size at 150,000, while police put the number at 
62,800.
"It is the dream of all Chinese people to have democracy!" the throng sang.
Hong Kong is one of the few places in China where the events of June 
1989 are not off-limits, because the territory — returned by the British 
12 years ago — operates under a separate political system that promises 
freedom of speech and other Western-style civil liberties.
"Hong Kong is China's conscience," Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker 
Cheung Man Kwong told the demonstration.
In the candlelight, speakers recalled the events in Tiananmen, where a 
military assault killed hundreds, if not thousands, who had gathered for 
weeks in the square to demonstrate for freedom and had erected a 
makeshift Statue of Liberty. Those killed were eulogized as heroes in 
the struggle for a democratic China, their names read aloud before the 
crowd observed a minute of silence.
"Hong Kong is the only place where we can commemorate, and we have to 
repeat this every year so our younger generations don't forget," said 
Annie Chu, 36, a Hong Kong tourism worker who says she has attended 
every vigil for the last 20 years.
Earlier, the central government ignored calls from U.S. Secretary of 
State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Taiwan's China-friendly president for 
Beijing to face up to the 1989 violence.
The extraordinary security in Beijing came after government censors shut 
down social-networking and image-sharing Web sites such as Twitter and 
Flickr and blacked out CNN and other foreign-news channels each time 
they showed stories about Tiananmen.
One student leader from 1989, Wu'er Kaixi, was forced to return to 
Taiwan on Thursday after flying to the Chinese territory of Macau the 
day before in an attempt to return home.
In Washington, D.C., Clinton said Wednesday that China "should examine 
openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of 
those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal."
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou urged China to lift the taboo on 
discussing the crackdown.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang dismissed Clinton's comments 
as a "gross interference in China's internal affairs."





http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/16/content_8287768.htm

Traffic resumes after hundreds of furniture dealers protest on highway
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-16 09:08
Comments(1) Print Mail
NANCHANG -- Traffic on the expressway in east China's Jiangxi province 
resumed on Monday night after hundreds of furniture makers and dealers 
blocked the road to protest over a proposed tax rule, said local police.
ost of the protesters have left by 11:45 p.m., and order was restored in 
the Nankang section of 105 national high way and the expressway linking 
the northeastern Heilongjiang province and the southern Guangdong province.
According to an unnamed official with the provincial government, cause 
of the incident was the new tax rule which was to take effect on Monday, 
as the city planned to tighten up tax enforcement on furniture makers 
and dealers.
"Protesters believed it increased their burden," he said.
Hundreds of furniture makers and dealers gathered along the road in the 
Nankang city, which was four hours drives from the provincial capital 
Nanchang, cutting traffic and smashing and overturning at least nine 
police cars at about 10 a.m..
Also, nearly 100 dealers went to the city government building to 
complain about the rule.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8100766.stm

Monday, 15 June 2009 15:16 UK
New tax plan sparks China protest

Protesters in the south-eastern Chinese city of Nankang have overturned 
police cars and blocked roads over plans to more strictly enforce 
payment of taxes.
Officials in Nankang said several hundred protesters blocked a major 
road while others delivered a petition to a local government office.
Video posted on the internet showed several overturned police cars and 
large crowds on a main street.
Nankang officials blamed the protest on a misunderstanding over the tax 
plan.
Decline in demand
"The whole incident revolves around a new campaign to reorganise the 
local furniture industry," said a statement on the Nankang government's 
web site.
"Starting from 15 June, the city is implementing a new approach to tax 
collection and management."
Some furniture-store owners "mistakenly thought that the municipal party 
and government wants the furniture industry to collapse," the statement 
said.
"A portion of them provoked others to hold up the traffic."
China's official Xinhua news agency said the local government's plan to 
more strictly enforce payment of taxes from the furniture makers and 
dealers has been suspended in the face of the opposition.
China's furniture industry has suffered in the global economic downturn 
from a decline in demand from export markets.
Thousands of similar protests over taxes, land disputes or corruption 
are reported in China each year.







http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/15/content_8286255.htm

Furniture dealers block highway to protest tax crackdown
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-15 20:51
Comments(0) Print Mail
NANCHANG - Hundreds of furniture makers and dealers in an eastern China 
city smashed police cars and blocked an expressway on Monday to protest 
a proposed tax crackdown, police said.
The dealers gathered along a section of national highway 105 in Nankang 
City, Jiangxi Province at about 10 am and cut off traffic, city police 
said. Nankang is a four-hour drive from the provincial capital Nanchang.
Most of the furniture shops are clustered along the highway section.
Also, nearly 100 dealers went to the city government building to 
complain about the rule planned to take effect on Monday.
Some police cars were smashed and overturned, but no casualties were 
reported.
The police said the city planned to tighten up tax enforcement on 
furniture makers and dealers, a proposal that led to a backlash from the 
industry.
Nankang suspended the implementation of the new rule and dealers were 
urged to keep calm.





http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/17/chinese-blogger-zhuihulu-disappearance

Chinese police arrest riot witness who posted pictures on internet
• Blogger Zuihulu disappears after uploading violence video
• Riot followed new tax on Nankang furniture industry
• Jonathan Watts in Beijing
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 June 2009 13.58 BST

An overturned Chinese police vehicle in Nankang, in eastern China's 
Jiangxi province, following demonstrations against tax measures. 
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Chinese police appear to have detained a blogger who posted images of 
the aftermath of a riot online, prompting concerns of a crackdown on 
citizen journalists.
The man, whose online name was Zuihulu, went missing yesterday after he 
uploaded video images of smashed, upturned police cars in Nankang, 
Jiangxi province, on Tudou, a Chinese video-sharing website similar to 
YouTube.
In the short video which has since spread widely through Fanfou, a 
Chinese form of Twitter Zuihulu appears to record events with his mobile 
phone as he rides past crowds of protesters on the back of a motorbike, 
describing what he sees in a thick regional dialect.
Contacted by the Guardian before he went missing, Zuihulu said: "I am 
just an ordinary netizen. I am here because I am interested in it. I 
will keep watching the situation. Please keep looking at my page on Fanfou."
The pictures have been published by the state media to illustrate the 
violent demonstrations that followed the government's efforts to impose 
a new tax and other restrictions on the furniture industry, a mainstay 
of the local economy.
Witnesses said a dozen police cars were overturned during the protest by 
hundreds of furniture workers on Monday.
In the face of this unrest, the local government has backed down on its 
taxation plans, but the authorities appear to have dragged in Zuihulu 
for questioning. He has not been heard of for 21 hours and his computer, 
phone and camera have been taken away.
The images he posted online have been blocked or deleted and a woman 
claiming to be his girlfriend posted a report asking for advice, saying 
she was unsure how the authorities would deal with the situation.
Bloggers have reacted with anger. "Pay attention to Zuihulu or next time 
there probably won't be anyone who will speak for you," said a Twitter 
contributor who goes by the name North Wind.
"What has Zuihulu done wrong to make the police take him away," said 
another called US.Army. "It was his live broadcast that made me realise 
that there is a place called Nankang where people produce furniture and 
aren't afraid of power."






http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6674723.html

Courts to help gov'ts reduce protests: SPC
11:22, June 09, 2009

Courts across the country will step up efforts to help local governments 
cope with an increasing number of mass incidents involving disputes over 
wages and management amid the economic downturn, according to Tuesday's 
China Daily's report.

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) Monday released a guideline saying "The 
courts will focus on dealing with a sharp increase in mass incidents 
especially in the mediation of demonstrations. If there is any trend 
seen in 'mass petitions', the courts should also work closely with local 
administrative departments".

Judicial departments should "establish an early warning mechanism" and 
direct their resources in line with law enforcement, the document said.

Courts will also closely monitor other major incidents that might affect 
social stability. In case of incidents that might result in violent 
conflicts, courts should inform local government departments in time to 
work out efficient solutions, it said.

Other measures include adopting caution in property seizures, detentions 
or freezing of assets, if affected enterprises are facing temporary 
financial strain.

The courts have also been urged to help beleaguered businesses tide over 
difficulties by mediating with their debtors.

In cases involving large- and medium-sized State-owned and State-holding 
enterprises, financial institutions and listed companies, the courts 
should voluntarily communicate with state assets management and 
supervision departments, to apply solutions that "avoid coercive 
measures leading to bankruptcy and social instability".

Yu Lingyu, director general of the SPC's enforcement bureau, said the 
global financial crisis had made a "huge impact" on the country's courts.

"The number of businesses going bankrupt continues to grow, leading to 
more disputes over salary claims and more cases involving vulnerable 
groups," Yu said.

Last year, 286,221 labor disputes were heard by the country's courts, a 
93-percent rise on 2007, while the number stood at 98,568 cases in the 
first three months this year, a 59-percent year-on-year rise, SPC 
figures showed.

Liu Junhai, chief of the commercial law research institute of the Renmin 
University of China, said the latest measures "were necessary".

In Fujian and Guangdong provinces, recent disputes over such issues 
involved hundreds of workers dragging companies to court.

"It is very important to handle such cases carefully as some large 
enterprises have divisional companies across the country. Court 
decisions in one place might lead to mass incidents in other places," 
Liu told China Daily.

The professor said joint efforts between judicial departments and 
administrative governments do not hamper citizens' rights and interests, 
"and only help lead to win-win situations".

"The best solution is to help enterprises tide over their current 
difficulties so that workers will not lose jobs in the long-run," Liu said.

Source:Xinhua






http://english.people.com.cn/90001/6671419.html

Petitioner uses belt in protest

09:06, June 04, 2009

A petitioner has used a belt to fasten himself to Haizhu Bridge and 
avoid becoming the second person to be pushed off by frustrated locals.

Residents are impatient with the rising number of petitioners who 
attempt to publicize their cause by threatening to jump from the 
downtown bridge.

Local police were again called downtown on Tuesday at 9 am, when the 
13th petitioner in two months climbed the bridge to draw attention to 
allegations that his store had been illegally repossessed.

Zhang Dingsheng, aged 60, from northern Shanxi province, fastened 
himself to the bridge to avoid being pushed off, as happened to the 12th 
climber, Chen Fuchao, who was injured in the fall.

Police and fireman grabbed Zhang after about one hour and dragged him to 
the ground, and traffic was once again allowed to cross the bridge.

"I don't think those climbers have any real intention to commit suicide. 
It is really unnecessary for the police to spend hours persuading them 
down while blocking the bridge," said Tang Xinmin, a local citizen in 
his 20's.

"I think the police and firemen did a good job forcing Zhang back to the 
inflated cushion."

Tang said he was late for work on two occasions in April because of the 
"bridge jumping show" and had been fined by his boss. He said that he 
now took the metro to work to avoid traffic delays caused by the 
petitioners.

"I dare not risk taking a bus across the bridge as the bridge has become 
such popular a venue for the jumping show," he said.

Zhong Jianqi, a middle-aged office worker in Guangzhou, said the 
petitioners were selfish.

"Their action not only disturbs the public order but also causes a great 
waste of police resources and their action affects thousands of people," 
she said.

"To be frank, I used to be sympathetic with them, but not anymore," 
Zhong said.

Local police are also frustrated with the petitioners.

"Whenever there is a climber, at least one rescue vessel, an ambulance, 
several police cars and fire engines have to respond and the bridge has 
to be blocked," said a police officer with the Haizhu branch of the city 
public security bureau. "That causes chaos in the community."

The petitioners can only be detained for about 10 days under Chinese law.

Source: China Daily





http://www.speroforum.com/a/19688/China-Clashes-with-police-are-a-daily-occurrence

China: Clashes with police are a daily occurrence
In Hubei, 10,000 people resist attempts by police to remove the body of 
a young man who died in mysterious circumstances. They fear the 
authorities might cremate it and eliminate the evidence of a crime
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
By Asia News
More than a thousand police agents in riot gear were sent to Hotel 
Yonglong in Shishou (Hubei) to remove the body of Tu Yuangao, a 
24-year-old man who died mysteriously on 17 June. They were stopped 
however at the entrance of the hotel by an angry crowd of more than 
10,000 local residents. In the clashes that ensued at least 200 people 
were injured, this according to the Information Centre for Human Rights 
and Democracy.
The authorities claim that the young man, who worked at the hotel as a 
chef, committed suicide. His body was found in the hotel lobby and 
police declared his death a suicide, ordering its removal and immediate 
cremation.
Mr Tu’s father refused, saying that his son would not take his own life. 
Instead he called for an investigation.
Upon police request the body was kept at the hotel, but last Friday 
anger boiled over and people began blocking streets and set up 
roadblocks around the area.
Yesterday residents told a newspaper the whole story and began talking 
about it on online discussion forums.
Unverified local sources said that senior cadres in the police, court 
and electricity bureau were shareholders in the hotel, which is also 
believed to be a place where drugs are sold.
Some residents told the South China Morning Post that Tu was killed 
after he threatened to disclose the drug deals carried out by the hotel 
owner when he demanded overdue pay.
Residents say the body of a girl was also found outside the hotel two 
years ago, dead under similar circumstances.
People are wondering why the police is not pursing the matter and is 
trying instead to retrieve the body and prevent the family from having it.
In China police is notorious for being at the service of ruling 
political groups rather than ordinary citizens. Often people end up 
acting out with force at expressions of such behaviour.
In Zhu village, at Huadu near Guangzhou residents were so mad that their 
reaction came close to open revolt and lynching.
When the government decided to acquire land to make way for a property 
development, residents rushed to build new houses and grow more plants 
in order to increase land values and the compensation they would receive.
However, when a government team was sent to stop the villagers, it was 
besieged for six hours by residents.
Clashes erupted when police was sent to rescue the government officials 
with villagers throwing bricks and stones at the agents
Nine police officers and several villagers were apparently injured in 
the clash, and at least two villagers were taken to hospital.
Crowds eventually dispersed hours later.





http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/200+hurt+in+death+protest+clashes/3222212

200 hurt in death protest clashes
Updated on 20 June 2009
Source PA News
More than 200 people were injured when protesters clashed with police in 
central China following the mysterious death of a young man at a city 
hotel, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said.
Residents said hundreds of people were still massed outside the hotel in 
Shishou city, angered by the death of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, and his 
body was still inside.
A local man who gave his last name as Wu said he saw about 20 to 30 
trucks carrying armed police entering the city in Hubei province.





http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1484878.php/Suspicious_death_sparks_riots_in_central_China_

Suspicious death sparks riots in central China
Asia-Pacific News
Jun 21, 2009, 4:50 GMT
Beijing - Armed police clashed with residents in central China's Hubei 
Province after the suspicious death of a chef at a local hotel sparked a 
three-day standoff, according to local reports Sunday.
The unrest began Wednesday evening after the body of 24-year-old Tu 
Yuangao was found outside the door of the Yonglong Hotel in Shishou 
City, where he worked as a chef, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning 
Post reported.
While police insisted that Tu committed suicide, Tu's father placed the 
corpse in the hotel lobby and demanded an investigation into the cause 
of his son's death, the report said.
When police tried to seize the body, onlookers gathered to prevent their 
entrance into the hotel. Some online reports put the number of 
protesters at 50,000 on Saturday.
Images online showed a large crowd in front of the hotel, as well as a 
vandalized fire truck and an overturned police car. A video showed 
protesters clashing with armed police.
State media at first reported that a burning vehicle and police cordons 
were the result of an inter-departmental fire drill.
The official Xinhua news agency later reported the riots and said that a 
suicide note was found with Tu Yuangao's body.
'Police didn't find life-threatening injuries on the surface of the 
body,' the agency reported.
However, local residents said Tu's death was suspicious and followed on 
from that of a girl who died in similar circumstances a few years ago.
While authorities claimed the girl's death was also suicide, locals said 
that the hotel was a known drug den and that senior officers in the 
police, court and electricity bureau were shareholders in the hotel, the 
South China Morning Post reported.
The semi-official China News Service reported that Tu's body had been 
taken to a funeral parlour early Sunday morning.





http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=93636

Published On: 2009-06-22
International
Protests in China over youth's death
Ap, Beijing

Hundreds of baton-wielding police yesterday dispersed protesters and 
cordoned off a city hotel in central China after a young man's 
mysterious death sparked unrest, a local official and a witness said.

More than 200 people were injured in the clashes between police and 
residents outside the hotel in Hubei province's Shishou city, according 
to a Hong Kong-based rights group, the Information Center for Human 
Rights and Democracy.

Hundreds had been angered by the death of 24-year old Tu Yuangao, who 
was found dead Wednesday evening in front of the Yonglong hotel.

Tu's relatives believe he was killed by the hotel boss, who is related 
to the mayor, the rights group said.

Discontent with local officials and police in China often leads to mass 
protests, which can gather size and force with remarkable speed. Mild 
frustration can turn into fury within minutes.

A local resident surnamed Chen said protesters started gathering outside 
the hotel Friday and by late Saturday had clashed five or six times with 
police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks. Chen said thousands of 
armed police forces with shields and batons were deployed in the area.

The crowd started dispersing early Sunday, but security was tight, he said.

"The area around the hotel is still cordoned off by hundreds of police 
with batons," Chen said in a telephone interview Sunday.






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/22/content_8306649.htm

Cook's death sparks protests in Hubei
By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-22 07:50
Comments(11) Print Mail
A hotel was torched, police cars overturned and officers pelted with 
rocks as thousands of people rioted over the weekend following the 
mysterious death of a cook in Hubei province, residents said.
Many police officers marching in formation used shields for protection 
and were backed by armored vehicles as they put an end to three days of 
violence in Shishou by dawn yesterday, a local woman surnamed Cheng said.
Cheng estimated that up to 10,000 people were involved in the riot but 
some media organizations said the figure was much higher.
Xinhua put the number at around 1,000 and said that there were no 
official reports of injuries.
Security was tight last night as police guarded roads surrounding the 
blackened Yonglong hotel after dispersing the crowd.
The violence followed the death of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, a cook at 
Yonglong Hotel, who was found dead outside the hotel's gate on Wednesday 
evening.
Police said a suicide note left by the chef showed he was "pessimistic 
and hated the world".
A resident surnamed Chen told AP that protesters started gathering 
outside the hotel Friday and by late Saturday had clashed five or six 
times with police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks.
Chen said thousands of armed police forces with shields and batons were 
deployed in the area, AP reported.
Amateur video, which could not be independently verified, showed 
protesters pelting rocks and projectiles at riot police. Using a 
megaphone, police told protesters to drop their weapons and said that 
the demonstration was illegal and ordered the crowd to disperse.
Cheng told China Daily that local officials were involved with the 
hotel, which she said was "engaged in drug dealing".
Tu found out the truth and decided to resign, Cheng said.
She said he asked for his salary but was refused, and alleged that Tu 
was later beaten to death by hotel staff or gangsters.
Xinhua reported that some local people believe that gangsters killed Tu, 
and others blame the hotel boss, believed to be the mayor's brother.
A man surnamed Zhang in his 50s said "Yonglong hotel is a den for 
drug-addicts" and showed Xinhua reporters used syringes in the rubbish 
at the back of the hotel.
A man who answered the phone at the Shishou government office refused to 
comment on the allegations, saying that the cause of death was being 
investigated.
Tu's body was taken to the morgue yesterday morning after his family 
agreed to conduct a police-proposed autopsy.
Xinhua contributed to the story





http://english.sina.com/china/2009/0620/249895.html

Residents protest over chef's death in central China city
2009-06-20 15:41:28 GMT2009-06-20 23:41:28 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WUHAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Many local residents gathered in front of a 
hotel in Shishou city of central China's Hubei province, protesting over 
death of a chef from the hotel on Saturday.
At about 5 p.m., more than one thousand people still crowded at the 
six-storey Yonglong hotel, where the ulterior walls were blackened after 
a fire. Windows at the first floor facing the street were smashed and 
the street was blocked.
A fire engine and two police vehicles were battered by protestors, 
witnesses said.
According to the city government of Shishou, police received a phone 
call at 8:36 p.m. Wednesday. A man's body was found at the gate of the 
Yonglong hotel at Dongyueshan road.
Initial investigation showed that the dead was 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, a 
chef of the hotel.
Police didn't find life-threatening injuries in the surface of the body. 
A note left by the chef showed that he was pessimistic and hates the 
world. Thus the death was believed then as suicide.
Police suggested to have autopsy of the body so as to make out cause of 
the death, but the request was rejected by Tu's relatives, who were not 
convinced by the allegation of suicide.
Local residents blocked the Dongyueshan road and the Oriental avenue on 
Friday, alleging foul play.
According to the local authorities, someone set fire to the hotel at 
0:30 a.m. Saturday, which was put out at 3 a.m.
The body was in the first floor and some residents guarded the gate, 
saying that police tried to take the body.
Some local people believed that the chef was killed by gangsters.
"The Yonglong hotel is a den for the drug-addicts," said a man surnamed 
Zhang in his 50s. He showed Xinhua reporters the used injectors in the 
garbage at the back of the hotel.
A 16-year-old girl died in the hotel a few years ago. The death was 
later recognized by police as suicide, local people said.





http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK69469.htm

Residents in central China protest over death
20 Jun 2009 08:46:46 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, June 20 (Reuters) - Police in central China's Hubei province 
have been called in to quash protests over the mysterious death of a man 
in a government-owned hotel, eyewitnesses told Reuters on Saturday.
"There are still a lot of armed police around," a local resident 
surnamed Chen told Reuters. "But they haven't convinced (the protestors) 
to go home yet."
On June 17, Xu Yuangao, a 24-year-old chef, was found dead at the 
Yonglong Hotel in the city of Shishou, and while the police say they 
found a suicide note, Xu's family continue to allege foul play.
Another resident said that local people were suspicious because of 
another incident that took place at the hotel several years ago.
"Yonglong Hotel doesn't have a good reputation because of its 
connections with the government and the death of a girl there a few 
years ago," she said.
She added that "around 10,000 people" have taken part in the protests, 
most of them local farmers angered by the way the case has been handled.
According to a short statement posted on the website of the Shishou city 
government, the police have kept in touch with Xu's family to arrange an 
autopsy and confirm the cause of death, but the family refused.
"A large number of uninformed people set up a roadblock at East Yueshan 
Road and Oriental Avenue in Shishou, disrupting traffic and creating a 
disturbance," the statement said.
Chinese sociologists have described the spate of riots and protests in 
the country's deprived hinterlands as "anger-venting social incidents" 
brought about by years of hardship and inequality.
Last year, the death of a 16-year-old girl in southwest China's Guizhou 
province led to riots involving 30,000 local residents, fired up by 
rumours that the girl had been raped and murdered. (Reporting by Beijing 
newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson)





http://www.roguegovernment.com/index.php?news_id=16157

China: Hundreds of Riot Police Battle the People of Shishou Published on 
06-22-2009 Email To Friend Print Version

Source: Cryptogon
The text below is an AP piece, but you should really click through to 
see the images and videos. This is just a sample.
Via: AP / East South West North:
Hundreds of baton-wielding police on Sunday dispersed protesters and 
cordoned off a city hotel in central China after a young man’s 
mysterious death sparked unrest, a local official and a witness said.
More than 200 people were injured in the clashes between police and 
residents outside the hotel in Hubei province’s Shishou city, according 
to a Hong Kong-based rights group, the Information Center for Human 
Rights and Democracy.
Hundreds had been angered by the death of 24-year old Tu Yuangao, who 
was found dead Wednesday evening in front of the Yonglong hotel. Tu’s 
relatives believe he was killed by the hotel boss, who is related to the 
mayor, the rights group said.
Discontent with local officials and police in China often leads to mass 
protests, which can gather size and force with remarkable speed. Mild 
frustration can turn into fury within minutes.
A local resident surnamed Chen said protesters started gathering outside 
the hotel Friday and by late Saturday had clashed five or six times with 
police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks. Chen said thousands of 
armed police forces with shields and batons were deployed in the area. 
The crowd started dispersing early Sunday, but security was tight, he 
said. “The area around the hotel is still cordoned off by hundreds of 
police with batons,” Chen said in a telephone interview Sunday.
A man who answered the phone at the Shishou government said the crowd 
dispersed after local authorities persuaded them to leave and that there 
had been no conflicts since Saturday afternoon. The man, who refused to 
give his name, said authorities were investigating the death of Tu, 
whose body was moved from the hotel to a funeral parlor Sunday. Chinese 
media reported that police ruled out murder, saying they found a suicide 
note.
Amateur video clips of the protest posted online showed hundreds of riot 
police marching down a street to reinforce a human barricade formed by 
officers who held their shields above their heads, supported by police 
vans and fire trucks. In one clip, hundreds of protesters were seen 
surging toward police, picking up objects from the ground and hurling 
them at the officers, who retreated. The video appeared to be posted by 
a U.S.-based user on YouTube, which is blocked in China. It could not be 
independently verified.





http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2792613

Police retake Chinese city after riots
Published: 1:32PM Monday June 22, 2009
Source: Reuters

ONE NewsChina
Crowds that clashed with paramilitary police in a small town in central 
China have dispersed, leaving police in control, local residents and 
state media said.
Unusually, the protestors in Shishou, Hubei province, appear to have 
included local government employees, showing the depth of 
dissatisfaction in the city of 620,000.
Crowds set fire to the Yonglong Hotel on Saturday night after the death 
of 24-year-old chef Tu Yuangao. The man's family had refused to accept 
the hotel management's explanation that Tu had committed suicide by 
jumping out a window.
By Sunday, the confrontation had escalated into one of the most serious 
"mass incidents" in China since the alleged rape of a teenage girl found 
dead in Weng'an, Guizhou province, sparked riots last year involving 
30,000 angry locals.
Videos of the confrontation posted on Youtube show thousands of 
paramilitary police marching with riot shields over their heads, then 
beating a hasty retreat as the crowd pelted them with stones and other 
objects.
"If you have any problems, please bring them to the attention of the 
relevant authorities. They will research it and get back to you," a 
man's hoarse voice could be heard shouting through a bullhorn.
The video could not be independently verified.
Some police were injured after the crowd armed themselves with beer 
bottles and bricks, a local resident surnamed Chen said. The police 
responded with water cannons, he said.
Government officials approached the crowd, asking their staff to return 
home. In a sign of the seriousness of the incident, provincial Communist 
Party officials rushed to the scene.
Police were able to retake the streets and the remains of the hotel just 
before dawn on Sunday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said. 
Xinhua said the crowd "remained to watch the police campaign, rather 
than protest".
Shishou residents were told the police had been called in to suppress 
gangsters and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group, Chen said.
The Shishou government website was inaccessible on Monday.






http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iTBE4bqZfWga_stZ3cG-u2nM1bog

Police fatally wound man during protest in China's Xinjiang
(AFP) – Jun 16, 2009
BEIJING (AFP) — Police in China's western-most Muslim region of Xinjiang 
fired warning shots to disperse a crowd protesting against a real estate 
project Tuesday, fatally wounding a man, state media said.
The incident occurred in the regional capital Urumqi when a policeman 
identified as Kudelet Kurban accidentally fired his gun into a crowd of 
about 60 people, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Kurban fired two warning shots to disperse the crowd, but to no use," 
the report said.
"While he continued to try to handle the crowd, his gun was accidentally 
triggered off and shot Yao Yonghai, a supervisor with the Guanghui 
company, in the neck."
Guanghui is the real estate company in charge of the building project 
objected to by the protesters, the news agency said.
Xinhua, citing the local government, said Yao died in hospital a short 
time later.
Xinjiang is home to about eight million Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group, 
and many members of the mainly Muslim community say they have suffered 
under Chinese political and religious persecution for decades.
China has long claimed it faces a deadly threat from Muslim separatists 
as justification for extremely tight controls in Xinjiang.
Earlier this month, Chinese police announced that they had smashed seven 
terror cells so far this year in the region, which borders Central Asia.
It was not immediately clear if ethnic strife was linked to Tuesday's 
incident, but the name of the policeman appeared to be of a non-Chinese 
minority while the victim had a typical Chinese name.
The incident occurred as China's top law official, Zhou Yongkang, warned 
in remarks published Tuesday that social stability was under increasing 
threat from labour and business disputes in the midst of the global crisis.
China sees tens of thousands of protests or outbursts of violence every 
year, often stemming from dissatisfaction with local authorities, with 
attacks on police stations or government offices becoming increasingly 
common.
On Monday, hundreds of furniture makers and businessmen smashed police 
cars and blocked a highway in eastern China, protesting the 
implementation of proposed tax measures, officials and state press reported.






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/16/content_11553180.htm

Cabbies' protest continues in western China province, 35 arrested

XINING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Protests by cab drivers in western China's 
Qinghai Province over operation rights continued Tuesday for a fourth 
day ,local government officials said.
On Tuesday, more than 150 drivers gathered at the city government 
headquarters in Xining, Qinghai's capital.
About 960 other taxis had resumed service, but Xinhua reporters said 
that most had removed the lights on top of their vehicles and covered 
their license plates.
Drivers across Qinghai Province were angered after a newspaper reported 
Friday that the provincial government would cut their license periods 
from 12 years to eight, meaning most of their licenses would expire now 
or in a year.
Yuan Fuyu, director in the transportation department of the provincial 
communication administration, Monday called the report "incorrect and 
misleading." He said the shorter period would only apply to new 
licenses, and that existing drivers would have unspecified advantages in 
renewing their licenses.
But some people interviewed by Xinhua, including a few staff members 
from local governments in Qinghai, agreed that the policy was ambiguous 
and might be hard to understand.
There was no indication that the policy would be changed. Local taxi 
drivers were being asked to sign a guarantee to stop striking and return 
to work. Those who don't agree face losing their operation rights, one 
driver said.
Police detained 35 people who had "taken the chance to make trouble," 
said Huang Shujiang, vice head of the Xining public security bureau.
On heels of the strike in Xining, there were taxi drivers' protests in 
other parts of Qinghai.
According to local officials, 228 taxis went on strike Monday afternoon 
in the Datong Hui and Tujia Autonomous County, which is some 65 km from 
Xining. The local government assured them in an open letter that no new 
measures were being taken and asked them to return to the road.

Editor: Yan







http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/20/content_8305153.htm

Villagers protest quarry operations in S China
By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-20 10:28
Comments(0) Print Mail
GUANGZHOU: Local villagers who are dissatisfied with the compensation 
given to them for damage to their houses from local quarry operations 
showed their frustration Wednesday by blockading the quarry and later 
causing a confrontation with the local police in Fengkai, a county in 
northwestern Guangdong province.
More than 60 villagers blocked the quarry of China Resources Cement 
(Fengkai) Ltd at about 2 pm to show their frustrations about the 
operation of the quarry and the damages to their homes. Three police 
officers who had rushed to the scene were held hostage for more than 
eight hours, according to a bulletin released by the county government 
of Fengkai on its official website.
The confrontation soon intensified when nearly 100 armed police officers 
hurried there to rescue their detained colleagues. Meanwhile more than 
300 other villagers joined in the protest.
"The police did not fight back and instead they retreated away from the 
spot to avoid further anger of the villagers. The confrontation was 
brought under control Thursday morning after local leaders' persuasion 
worked."
According to the bulletin, about 20 villagers are suspected to have 
organized the violence. Local police have arrested four suspects and 
have urged others to turn themselves in.
Some of the protesters say the quarry operations threaten their homes.
According to the bulletin, the county government and China Resources 
Cement (Fengkai) Ltd will jointly pool 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) to 
cover the expenses related to the relocation and reinforcement of the 
local villagers' houses.