Inside China Today

Appealer Wang Shixiang from Anhui Province Applies for Protest in the Designated Parks during the Olympic Games

During the Olympic Games, the Beijing authorities claimed that they would allow appealers to hold parades in the three parks away from the main stadium. However, since the opening of the Games, there has been no such activity in any of the parks. According to the authorities from The Beijing Public Security Bureau, 74 applicants have withdrawn their applications of their own accord. But the applicants said they have never withdrawn their applications.

Sound of Hope reporters interviewed appealer Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang is extremely unhappy with the loss of his personal rights and interests as well as the suppression of people by the authorities.

[Recording]: “What I want to protest against is that I have suffered persecution by the government for 17 months. We want to collect signatures; we want social stability and human rights. They oppress people in large numbers. This is not a personal matter. They beat me in the detention centre, and used all kinds of torture means to persecute me. They fabricated a charge against me, while in fact I did not do anything wrong. The police of the government colluded with beautiful young ladies to extort money from ordinary people. I could not stand their conduct and wanted to expose this phenomenon to the society. After I exposed them, they arrested me and detained me for 17 months.”

Although Mr. Wang has not sent out his application for protest, he courageously hoped that the Sound of Hope reporters could pass his message out.

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[Recording]: “I’ve no fear now. Firstly I want people to see my solemn declaration; secondly, I hope the international community pays attention to my plight. But I’m not afraid of death. I expect that I would be tortured and I know I will come to no good end, but still I must do this. I want to expose their false pretence. If they don’t allow me to do it [protest], then it will show to the world’s people even more clearly that they are telling lies, right? Now they (the police) are everywhere. Our local police have also come here and are trying to catch me.”

At the end of the interview, Mr. Wang once again calls the greater community to pay attention to their situation. [Recording]: “I hope to draw attention from the international community, and hope the outside world can help us call on the attention. I hope governments do not tell lies and hope the Chinese government does not tell lies. [You] have promised to the world. We ordinary people need to observe the law, and the government should observe the law even more!”

The above news is brought to you by Fu Ming and Tang Ling, hosted by Chris Thomas for Inside China Today on SOH Radio Network.