Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Tuesday 10th November

Residents in Beipu Village, Fujian Province have maintained intense resistance against official attempts at land seizures and relocations.

- Beijing activists apply to protest during Obama’s visit

- Fujian residents deny relocations with gas canisters

**************

Beijing activists apply to protest during Obama’s Visit
(0:18)

A group of around 30 activists have applied for a demonstration to be held during a visit by United States President Barrack Obama to China. On the morning of November 6,rights activists Qi Zhiyong, Li Jingping and others went to the Beijing Municipal Public Security/ to hand in the application form. They hope to draw the attention of the Western community to China’s human rights situations.

Li Jingping, a Beijing dissident says that a participant of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protest, soldier Zhang Shiju, is also one of the applicants for the demonstration. They want the United States to pay attention to plight of the Chinese people.

Li said, “We request that (the Regime) return to a constitutional rule, provide human rights and call on their conscience and morals, and provide redress for the (Tiananmen Massacre). Because the Zhao Zhiyang issue is the biggest human rights issue in China. Human rights do not exist in China and what (the Regime) says is all false… For now at least, I don’t feel I have human rights, because I am left homeless… What human rights do I have? Also a lot of people had tried to intercept Wen Jiabao’s car, and Wen has ruled that local governments should deal with petitioners…in the end what happened to them? They’re thrown in jail.”

Like many other activists, 64 year-old, disabled, Qi Zhiyong is placed under house arrest when overseas officials visit China.

“(Obama)’s visit to China just involves the discussion of the climate, or other economic issues. We hope that he would bring up the issue of human rights, and truly improve China’s human rights. He should be a good catalyst. In fact, his arrival has indirectly caused our right to live as well as our living spaces to be trampled upon. Because of the effect of his arrival, people like me – dissidents… I myself have been subjected to a formless oppression, whether it’s house arrest, or being taken away from Beijing. For example, someone once came with a list of 10 people they wanted to see, but in the end couldn’t see any of them. Why? Because the Chinese government had hidden all these people, using the police and illegal means to place them under house arrest.

The United States is the international police, which we need, we need this type of international and just condemnation towards the Chinese government, they need to mention these things. He hasn’t even arrived yet. But around the country dissidents from Guizhou, Nanjing, Jiangsu, Chongqing and Anhui have all received warnings from the police, that during this period they’re not allowed to leave, and not allowed to go to Bejing.

Beijing petitioners noticed that the Beijing Public Security team have replaced their signage for a more public-friendly message ahead of Obama’s visit.

“Now the signage is very new, the place to apply for demonstration has 3 signs, one is – materials, the other, Beijing Municipality Bureau of Public Security Celebration Event Reception, and one more is the People’s Letters and Visits Reception. These are all fake, actually this is just the place to apply to hold demonstrations, and they have used this to lie to Chinese people and foreigners.”

Li Jinping says Beijing town patrol officials have begun driving away street vendors.

“Yesterday I saw it all over the streets, these town patrols are driving around and taking the people’s tricycles, and arresting them. This group of them have all left, they’re afraid of being detained so they abandoned their tricycles; you can see the car has dragged a lot of motorbikes and tricycles, more than a dozen. Everyone is cursing this on the internet.”

Dissidents believe that human rights need to be obtained through the efforts of the public, so they have decided to put into action their fight for human rights.

Caden Pearson; Tian Xi of the SOH Radio Network.

************************

Fujian residents deny relocations with gas canisters
(4:50)

Residents in Beipu Village, Hushi County, Putian City have reported violent relocations by local authorities. Defiant villagers have resorted to using gas to attack police. Gas canisters in the county have reportedly been sold out, with households keeping on average 7 to 8 canisters to use against police.

On November 6, SOH spoke to Beipu villagers. They told us there have been rumours of relocations for several years. Last week, 400 people dressed in police outfits broke onto their lands. Villagers reported online that they are now prepared with self-protection materials to counter a new attack by the government.

Wu said:
“Our village now has a lot of things for self-protection. We can’t not have these, as the police use many things like electric batons, prying tools and police batons… we have no other way, so each family has prepared liquefier, petrol bottles and bricks. If they really want to use force and beat us, we really have no other way but to protect ourselves. We must have these things…or we’ll just be beaten to death.”

Villager says, on October 30, the group of 400 police, lead by the Deputy District Chief He Jingqin, Chief of Development Office Chen Longxian and Hushi County Chief Xu Haifeng broke into Beipu Village, breaking down doors and beaten anyone who retaliated.

Wu said:
“Around 9 am, everyone was selling things on the street, those who stayed home were all elderly people…they stayed back to look after the home. They (the police) forcibly pried open the doors, the elderly people tried to stop them, and they started to beat up the elderly…everything. They just beat up the elderly, 60 or 70 year olds…because we didn’t have very many young people at home.”

And elderly woman from the village said:
“The villagers were beaten, on their heads…there was a lot of blood. Those old ladies, 60 or 70 years old were all beaten. It was a mess on the day…a big mess, they just beat people up randomly. A lot of people were injured. Over 400 people came here, they broke down the doors…people were not home, the doors were all broken.”

Around 10am, villager Wu Ahdong who was in his 60s started to retaliate. He opened the gas at his home, and lit it up in front of his home, while wielding a kitchen knife to defy police. Neighbours soon followed his acts, and the local officials were scared off.
Villager Ms Wu says the local authorities did not have any legal documentation and they were not given any compensation:

Wu said:
“If the country needed something or if they had a plan to locate us or some compensation conditions to discuss with us…we are not the type of stubborn residents who refuse to move. After all, we’ll people…farmers, and our efforts has earned us this bit of assets…and you don’t give us any relocation plans or have some arrangements for us and just break through the door like that. Now our land is in a prime spot, if we were to sell our house, it would be at least a couple of million Yuan…but they say our house is not worth more than $100,000. There’s no way, it’s very dark.”

Mr. Zhen from a neighboring village says that forced demolitions and relocations occur frequently there, and there is very little compensation, and in the end, some people don’t even receive any money.

Zhen said:
“There are a lot of demolitions and relocations…and some building has been built next to the road, some decades-old homes have been forcibly demolished. The compensation is nowhere near enough, not at all, they just do this and that, and the government is a mess, and no more compensation has been given. “

Villagers have now made a pact that as soon as local authorities come again, they will strike their gong as a warning. Each family has also prepared gas canisters and have vowed to use their lives to protect their hard-earned assets, and the land on which generations before them have walked.

Keith Ware; Tian Lin; and Wang Zhen of the SOH Radio Network.

****************