China: Laid-off Teachers, Workers Protest

Radio Free Asia, 2009-11-10 -

HONG KONG— More than 100 laid-off elementary school teachers in central China petitioned the local government Tuesday over retirement pensions, members of the group said.

The teachers, who work for the education system in Dawu county of central China’s Hubei province, said they were angered over back premiums they would have to pay to be eligible to receive their pensions.

One protesting teacher surnamed Liu said the group had gathered in front of the county government’s Letter and Visit Office early Tuesday morning.

“Around 100 teachers have come, and we are petitioning over retirement pensions,” Liu said.

“The government asked us to pay 20,000 yuan (U.S. $2,928), but we’ve never had so much money in our whole life. How can we afford that?” he asked.

The teachers said that before they were laid off, their salaries were very low……. (more details)

Machine workers protest

In a separate development on Monday, around 100 laid-off workers in China’s southwestern Sichuan province also petitioned the local government over retirement pension, leading to a scuffle with police.

The workers, from the Changjiang No. 2 Hydraulic Machinery Factory in Luzhou city, had been laid off in 1990s, but had been informed that their benefits would end after the factory was recently sold to a real estate developer.

A protester who asked to remain anonymous said the workers had been forced to petition the government for assistance at the Luzhou city hall.

“Workers are now extremely anxious because the new owner will no longer take care of us. This is why we have to petition the government to pay attention to our benefits,” the worker said.

But rather than hear the concerns of the protesting workers, the Luzhou city government dispatched about 100 police officers to confront the workers, leading to a scuffle between the two groups.

The anonymous worker said the confrontation between elderly workers and young policemen left several protesters injured.

“Our workers are all in their 70s or 80s, but the police are all in their 20s and 30s, so you can imagine what happened when the two groups began to push and pull at each other,” the worker said.

“Three old workers were injured and sent to the hospital in ambulances. According to other protesters, the three remained in hospital at least through Monday night.”

Attempts to contact local officials by telephone went unanswered……. (more details from Radio Free Asia)

Over 2,000 Protest Pollution and Arrests in Southeast China Village

By Gu Qing’er, Epoch Times Staff,  Oct 24, 2009-

An ongoing struggle between residents and a local ceramic factory over pollution has erupted in protesting, arrests, and riot police presence. When a dozen resident activists of Paibian Village, Jiedong County, Guangdong Province were arrested the morning of Oct. 22, thousands went to the local regime officials, demanding their release.

An Epoch Times reporter interviewed villagers at the scene. According to a villager surnamed Lu, there were no legal procedures, and no one knew where the arrested villagers were taken. He said there were more than 2,000 people who joined the protest.

Another protester, surnamed Chen, said that his friend’s husband was not only arrested, but his cash and cell phone were confiscated.

“What kind of policemen were they! They did not show any ID, but just broke down the door and dashed into the house. I saw policemen taking one woman away in her underwear,” Chen said.

“It’s quite chaotic, and riot police are here,” he said. “The head official is not coming out to talk to us.”

Victims of Factory Pollution

Villagers complain that the exhaust from a ceramic factory has been jeopardizing the quality of life and health of local residents.

“The exhaust smells like disinfectants. It’s horrible and makes me dizzy,” Chen said. “My neighbor’s bamboo shoots stopped growing, and the school children have to cover their mouths and noses.”

The ceramic factory in question is located less than 170 feet from a residential area and an elementary school with 900 students. Students are reported to have symptoms of coughing, sore throats, dizziness, and chest pain.

There is no tap water in the village and residents drink from wells they have dug. The factory also releases waste water into the ground, polluting local sources of water. Residents have complained about loud noises from the factory as well.

Even neighboring villages are affected—residents complain that wind-born pollutants have caused a large number of crops to wither.
Taking the Issue into their Own Hands

Villagers at first approached the Bureau of Environmental Protection with their complaints, and were told the factory was being monitored and was unlicensed due to its failure to meet environmental standards. Local government officials took no action to assist the residents, and neither did the factory respond to complaints.

Two months ago, residents of the affected villages determined they would initiate action on their own. Thousands cooperated to set up roadblocks which stopped the factory from transporting materials. They also demanded that the ceramic factory move out of their area.

A fight broke out between residents and the factory owners the evening of Aug. 9. A resident told The Epoch Times that the factory owner threatened to run down residents with trucks. He also threatened to blow up an oil tank in the factory that would cause the whole village to burn.

The resident also reported that the owner bragged he had paid a town hall official a million yuan, and “he was not worried about us.”

- The Epochtimes

China Officials ‘Ordered Town Drowned’

Radio free Asia, 2009-09-23 -

HONG KONG— Police are guarding local government offices in China’s southern Guangdong province after dozens of villagers tried to storm the buildings in protest at deliberate flooding of their land in the wake of a major typhoon.

“More than 100 people stormed the government offices three times, but they wouldn’t let them in,” said a resident, surnamed Luo, of Chuanbu township near Guangdong’s Luoding city.

“Right now there are more than 100 police standing guard there.”

Luo said local township officials had refused all along to meet with villagers.

“The villagers are very angry,” he said.

“The township Party secretary has even said that it doesn’t matter if 100 or so villagers die. The most important thing is that not a single official died.”

Order to flood

The township government was ordered by Guangdong provincial authorities to flood the countryside around Chuanbu last week after water levels at the township’s Shandong Dam rose to dangerous levels in the wake of Typhoon Koppu, which left at least three dead.

A teacher surnamed Li at the Chuanbu Middle School said the school buildings were only a few hundred meters (yards) from the dam and described scenes of panic as teachers and students fled upstairs from the rising floodwaters.

“The water came in so quickly. Within two or three minutes the entire school was under water,” Li said.

“There was nowhere to run to. Several thousand teachers and students tried to escape to the upper storeys of the school buildings.”

Calls unanswered

“At the time, all we could think about was how to survive. There was no time to grab any belongings. We were running for our lives,” Li said.

“When the water reached the second floor, we ran up to the third floor. Then the third floor went under, so we ran up to the fourth floor. There are only five storeys in the school. We wondered at the time what would happen if we ran out of storeys,” she added.

An official who was similarly stranded at the Chuanbu township government confirmed that a total of 5,000 students at the middle school were left stranded by rising floodwaters, which also destroyed hundreds of houses.

“No one expected the water to rise so fast,” the official said.

“It was as deep as two meters. They were stranded for a whole day and night.”

“The government building was also surrounded by water. We too were very hungry and thirsty. We only had something to eat after the water retreated,” he said, adding that no casualties were reported from among the students.

The mother of Chuanbu Middle School student Qu Mingjie said her son was on the third floor when the waters started to rise.

“They were told to remain in their classroom by their teacher. The water was two meters high.”

Repeated calls to the Chuanbu police station and the Luoding municipal government went unanswered during office hours Wednesday.

Villagers were unable to confirm any deaths, but rumors were rife that dead bodies were carried to government offices in protest, and that a number of teachers and students from a local kindergarten were missing.

Guangdong-based civil rights activist Tang Jingling said local officials were refusing to give out details of loss of life and property caused by the flooding for fear of being held accountable……. (more from Radio Free Asia)

China: Thousands of steel workers clashed with police, firm boss beaten to death

Tania Branigan in Beijing , The Guardian,  26 July 2009 -

Thousands of angry Chinese steel workers clashed with police and beat to death an executive of the firm trying to take over their company, a Hong Kong-based human rights organisation has said.

Rioters killed Chen Guojun, the general manager of Jianlong Steel Holding Company, after learning that the privatised firm was to buy a majority stake in state-owned Tonghua Iron and Steel Group. The deal now appears to be scrapped.

The violence in Tonghua city, Jilin province, north-eastern China, on Friday is believed to be the country’s biggest civil disturbance since last summer. It comes weeks after inter-ethnic conflict between Han Chinese and the Muslim Uighur minority in China’s north-west region of Xinjiang left 197 people dead and 1,700 injured.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said 30,000 people were involved in the latest incident, although some internet postings put the figure at closer to 10,000.

China is the world’s largest consumer and producer of steel, but its industry is regarded as inefficient.

The workers are thought to have been fearful of further large-scale redundancies at a company that reportedly axed many jobs only a few years ago. Reports suggest Tonghua has between 20,000 and 50,000 employees.

Millions of people were laid off by state enterprises in the 1990s and workers often complain that they receive little compensation.

The human rights centre said workers were angry that Chen earned about 3m yuan (£267,000) last year while Tonghua’s retirees were given as little as 200 yuan a month.

They blocked roads and smashed police vehicles, the centre said, adding that 100 people were injured in the violence. Authorities in the area have made no formal comment on events and phone calls to the companies went unanswered.

But the South China Morning Post quoted a police officer from the public security bureau as telling them: “Yes, it did take place … Workers from Tonghua would not allow ambulance and medical practitioners to enter the building to rescue Mr Chen and he died.”

Local television said on Friday night that the takeover would be scrapped, the newspaper added……. (more detals from The Guardian)

Central China Farmers Protest Land Grabs

Radio Free Asia, 2009-07-22 -

In an undated photo, residents of Nanwan village in southern Guangdong province protest outside a government building against alleged corruption surrounding an eel farm built on their land. (Provided by villagers, published by Radio Free Asia)

HONG KONG— Villagers in one of the poorest regions of China have vowed they will fight a government proposal to use their farmland for a cement factory, as a deadline for agreement set by local officials passed on Wednesday.

Residents of poverty-stricken Gushi county in the central province of Henan said they had been sent a letter only last week by village-level officials proposing the sale of a plot of desperately needed farmland at below-market compensation levels.

Dongba village resident Wang Dengyou said the villagers are dependent on agriculture as a way to eke out a living.

“Our plan was not to sell this land,” said Wang, who received the government letter offering 12,500 yuan (U.S.$1,830) per mu (0.06 hectares). “If we sell it, then we won’t have anything to eat.”

“We decided that it wasn’t enough compensation,” he said. “Even if the price was a bit higher, if we sold it we would still have lost our food supply.”

The government letter also threatened the villagers with land requisition and no compensation at all if they refused the offer, residents said.

Alleged corruption

Villagers accused local officials of skimming off a high percentage of money received from the property developers for the land.

“If you think about it, the county government has received 20,000 yuan per mu, while they are only offering 12,500 yuan per mu to the villagers,” Dongba resident Yang Huaibing said.

“This is being pulled by [officials in] our village.”

Calls to the Dongba village government and nearby Wangpeng village government went unanswered during office hours Tuesday.

According to local media reports, a series of land disputes has followed county Party secretary Guo Yongchang’s 2004 pledge to bring more investment to Henan, which has some of the poorest rural communities in China, as local officials make bids to acquire land in the area.

New developments have included spacious business centers and palatial government office buildings, reports said……. (more details from Radio Free Asia)

Flare-Ups of Ethnic Unrest Shake China’s Self-Image

By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, July 19, 2009 -

YINGDE, China — Six weeks after a violent confrontation between police and villagers in this old tea farming region, Xu Changjian remains in the hospital under 24-hour guard.

After being hit in the head multiple times by police, Xu’s brain is hemorrhaging, leaving him paralyzed on the right side. He can barely sit up. Local government officials say Xu’s injuries and that of other farmers were regrettable but unavoidable. They say that villagers attacked their police station on the afternoon of May 23 and that the police were forced to defend themselves with batons, dogs, pepper spray, smoke bombs and water cannons.

The villagers, most of them Vietnamese Chinese, tell a different story. They say that about 30 elderly women, most in their 50s and 60s, went to the police station that day to stage a peaceful protest. Four farmers’ representatives, who had taken their grievances about land seizures to government officials a few days earlier, had been detained, and villagers in the countryside of the southern province of Guangdong demanded that they be freed. As the hours passed, several thousand supporters and curious passersby joined them. Then, farmers say, hundreds of riot police bused from neighboring towns stormed in without warning and started indiscriminately pummeling people in the crowd.

The violence in Guangdong was echoed in the far western city of Urumqi, when clashes between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese on July 5 killed 192 people and injured about 1,700. Both incidents have shaken China’s view of itself as a country that celebrates diversity and treats its minority populations better than its counterparts in the West do.

The incidents in Guangdong and Urumqi fit a pattern of ethnic unrest that includes the Tibetan uprising in March 2008, followed by bombings at police stations and government offices in the majority Uighur province of Xinjiang that left 16 officers dead shortly before the August Olympics.

Each conflict has had specific causes, including high unemployment, continued allegations of corruption involving public officials and charges of excessive force by police. But for the Chinese government, they add up to a major concern: Friction among the nation’s 56 officially recognized ethnic groups is considered one of the most explosive potential triggers for social instability. Much of the unrest stems from a sense among some minority populations that the justice system in China is stacked against them. In March, hundreds of Tibetans, including monks, clashed with police in the northwestern province of Qinghai. The fight was apparently triggered by the disappearance of a Tibetan independence activist who unfurled a Tibetan flag while in police custody. Some said he committed suicide, but others said he died while trying to escape.

In April, hundreds of members of China’s Hui Muslim minority clashed with police in Luohe in Henan province when they surrounded a government office and blocked three bridges. The protesters were angry about what they viewed as the local authorities’ mishandling of the death of a Hui pedestrian who was hit by a bus driven by a Han man.

“In the United States and other countries, if a few police beat one person, it is big news; but here in China, it is nothing,” said Zhang Shisheng, 52, a grocery store owner whose right shin and calf bones were shattered during the attacks. Metal rods now support his shin, and he will not be able to walk for at least six more months.

“I feel that Chinese cops can kill people like ants with impunity.”

Xiang Wenming, a local party official and head of the Stability Maintenance Office in the area of Yingde where the clash occurred, said that “if some violence happened, that is because some people didn’t listen to the police.”…… (more details from The Washington Post)

Tens of thousands of Chinese fight the police in Shishou City, Central China

By Malcolm Moore, The Telegraph, UK, June 22nd, 2009 -

It was a dramatic weekend in the relatively small city of Shishou in Hubei province.

Tens of thousands of rioters torched a hotel and overturned police cars, accusing the authorities of trying to cover up the murder of a 24-year-old man as a suicide.

police cars overturned in Shishou City (from QQ)

The deceased, Tu Yuangao, was the chef of the Yong Long hotel. According to the cops, he committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the building and left a note.

However, witnesses said there was no blood on the scene and Tu’s body was already cold just after it hit the ground. His parents were surprised that he left a suicide note, since he was allegedly illiterate.

There are plenty of rumours flying around – that two other employees at the hotel had died in the same way, that the boss of the hotel is related to the mayor of Shishou, that the hotel was a centre for the local drug business and Yu was killed for threatening to expose what was going on. There’s also a rumour that three further bodies have been found at the hotel.

There are more details and photos here (EastWestNorthSouth).

It’s a strange story, and it gets stranger. A huge mob, of anywhere between a few thousand to 70,000 people, depending on which report you read, quickly gathered outside the building to protect the body. Tu’s parents refused to let his corpse be taken away, claiming that it held vital evidence of the crime, and instead placed it inside the hotel on ice.

The crowd beat back waves of policemen. On Saturday, someone lit a fire inside the hotel, possibly to destroy the body, but it was saved.

Tu’s cousin apparently then armed himself with two barrels of gasoline and threatened to blow himself up if the body was taken.

The police restored order yesterday, imposed a curfew and took the corpse to a funeral parlour. There is still a lot of anger, however, and the website of the local government has been defaced by hackers.

What’s extraordinary is the speed in which the riot blew up, and the venom directed against the local authorities. Whatever was behind Tu’s death, there’s clearly something rotten in Shishou.

After months of calm, there have recently been a spate of riots being reported in the Chinese media, or on the internet.

Is this because media restrictions have been lifted, allowing news of riots to spread, or has there been a genuine increase in social tension in the countryside?

It is impossible to tell. China no longer publishes the figures for how many riots take place each year, but most people put the figure at around 80,000 and the vast majority go totally unnoticed.

The fact that there have been a dozen riots reported in the last couple of months may not demonstrate anything out of the ordinary. There is no theme that connects the recent protests – some are about property, some are work disputes, some are because of corruption.

But then again, a huge number of migrant workers are still out of work. Their factories have not recovered from the economic crisis. In the countryside, the harvest is finished and people’s savings may be running low. Perhaps the tinderbox is drier than usual.

UPDATE:  Overnight between Sunday and Monday over a thousand students rioted at Nanjing Industrial Technical School, smashing windows, television sets, their teacher’s cars and an on-campus supermarket.

A policeman was attacked, but the crowd was eventually subdued by hundreds of anti-riot police, according to blogs written by participants.

The students were enraged after being told that they would only graduate with a technical degree (the equivalent of high-school diploma) rather than the associate degree (just underneath a normal bachelor’s degree) they were promised at enrollment.

- The Telegraph

Villagers Injured in Northeastern China Land Clash

Radio Free Asia, 2009-06-17 -

HONG KONG— Authorities in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang said Tuesday they were investigating violent clashes between police and villagers protesting against land acquisition by the government, which left around 18 people injured.

“They tried forcefully to proceed with the construction, but we tried to stop them, as no compensation was ever paid,” a villager from Yushu township near Heilongjiang’s Fujin city said.

The villager, identified by his surname Meng, said 50 to 60 road construction workers came by truck last Thursday after villagers had occupied the disputed plot of land since the end of May.

“They beat us with shovels and other tools,” Meng said. “Eighteen villagers got injuries on their heads, legs, and arms.”

“Three or four injured villagers are still in hospital,” he added.

The grandfather of 24-year-old Yu Bin said the young man had sustained brain damage and was in critical condition.

“My grandson had internal bleeding in his brain,” Yu’s grandfather said. “His kidney was also damaged. He is in critical condition in a local hospital.”

He said authorities wanted to acquire farmland from Yushu residents to build a road. “They said they would compensate us villagers with farmland that is more than 50 kms away, so no one would take it,” Yu said.

“As for monetary compensation, they could only give 5,200 yuan (about U.S. $760) per hectare. Many villagers came out to protect their land regardless of age and gender,” Yu’s grandfather said.

Police probe

Local police confirmed some villagers were injured. An officer who answered the phone at the Yushu township police station said: “We are still investigating the case, and so we are not obliged to say if any suspects have been arrested.”…… (more details from Radio Free Asia)

Protesters in Southeast China Succeed in Stopping New Tax Law

The Epoch Times,  Jun 17, 2009  -

According to a Xinhua report on June 16, a protest against a new tax law in Nankang city, Jiangxi Province, caused authorities to repeal the new law, which was supposed to go into effect on June 15.

Authorities in China rarely compromise, analysts say. That they did in this case shows that high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are growing worried that local protests might spread into nationwide unrest.

On that same day, Xinhua reported the not-guilty verdict in the tempestuous Deng Yujiao rape case. Deng had been charged with manslaughter for killing a Party official she claimed was trying to rape her. Originally Deng was judged guilty of using excessive force in self-defense.

The reversal shows that the CCP is adopting a more compliant approach when faced with massive public outrage……. (More from The Epochtimes)

China: Veteran Dies After Mililtary Hospital Refuses Treatment, Thousands Protest

By Zhang Liming, Radio Free Asia, Via The Epochtimes, May 16, 2009 -

Thousands of people joined the protest of the Mililtary Hospital in Chongqing

The Liberation Army No. 324 Hospital in Chongqing city, Sichuan, was accused of not treating a local resident because of  a payment issue , which resulted in the death of a 23-year-old veteran. The veteran participated in the rescue work after the Wenchuan Earthquake last year. The veteran’s family protested outside of the hospital on May 13 holding his picture and slogans. Thousands of people joined the protest in the afternoon of May 13.  The crowds caused traffic chaos around the hospital.

A Chongqing resident named Li said that the protesters were not happy

Thousands of people protest the Mililtary Hospital

with the way the hospital treated the victim. The hospital refused to help the victim because he did not have any cash at the time. The victim died as a result. The crowds did not leave until 8 p.m. after armed riot police arrived. It was claimed that some protesters were injured during the conflict with the police.

Li said that many Liberation Army Hospitals have opened to the public and are not different from other general hospitals. Veterans also need to pay to see a doctor. According to Li, many hospitals charge before they perform emergency service.

The protest, according to the Hong Kong based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy, attracted over ten thousand people at one point. The crowd attempted to break into the hospital. The riot police confiscated the picture and slogans from the family. During the conflict, at least ten protesters were injured. The police took away the victim’s family members and their whereabouts were unknown at the time of this report……. (More from The Epochtimes)

Unrest in Tibet continues as human rights violations escalate

Amnesty International, 10 March 2009-

Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising in 1959, which led the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee to India.

Last year’s anniversary saw a wave of largely peaceful protests in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan-populated areas in neighbouring provinces. These protests led to arbitrary arrests and other human rights violations including prolonged detention and imprisonment, torture and other ill-treatment.

The Chinese authorities’ failure to address the long-standing grievances of the Tibetan people, including unequal employment and educational opportunities, scores of Tibetans detained and the intensification of the “patriotic education” campaign has fuelled protests that have continued over the past 12 months.

Overseas Tibetan organizations have documented between 130-200 individual protests since March 2008.

Monks and nuns, laypeople and nomads have been taking part in popular protests across Tibetan-populated areas. Reports of Tibetan protests are matched by those of tightened security measures and calls to “crush” any demonstrations of support for the Dalai Lama, especially over the recent weeks. Despite this, popular Tibetan protests have continued across the region.

Some observers have interpreted the tightened security measures which include the removal of monks and nuns from monasteries, and an increasing presence of the People’s Armed Police as acts of provocation.

The “Winter Strike Hard Unified Checking Campaign” was launched in Lhasa on 18 January. The campaign aimed to “vigorously uphold the city’s social order and stability”, targeting in particular those who are not permanent Lhasa residents.

According to the Lhasa Evening News, in the first three days of the campaign, the police had “thoroughly checked” nearly 6,000 people in residential blocks, rented accommodations, hotels, guesthouses, internet cafes and bars. The police had detained 81 suspects by 24 January, including two for having “reactionary songs and opinions” on their mobile phones.

The People’s Armed Police are reported to have shot a 24-year-old Tibetan monk who set himself on fire on 27 February 2009. The monk was holding a homemade Tibetan flag with a picture of the Dalai Lama on it.

The incident took place in Ngaba county (Chinese: Aba), Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), Sichuan province, after the local authorities dispersed a group of hundreds of monks who had gathered to observe a prayer ceremony.

The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, confirmed that a protest took place and that a monk was taken to a hospital to be treated for burn injuries. The Chinese authorities later denied the shooting.

The continued lock-down in Tibet has made independent verification of reports difficult and raised fears that reports of human rights violations that reach the outside world represent just a fraction of the whole.

Foreign journalists have previously needed a special permit to travel to the TAR. However, in the wake of the unrest in spring 2008, they have been allowed to visit the TAR only on government organized group tours……. (more details from Amnesty International)

Cambridge throws shoe at China Premier in Britain

AFP, Jan. 2, 2009 -

CAMBRIDGE (AFP) — A protester Monday threw a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as he was giving a speech at Britain’s Cambridge University, just missing him.

“This is a scandal” he shouted before security staff bundled him out of a concert hall at the university, where Wen was speaking on the last day of a five-nation tour of Europe.

The protester, a young Western-looking man in a T-shirt, added: “This dictator here, how can you listen to the lies he’s telling? You are not challenging him.”

“How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator?”, he added.

Echoing the incident in December when an Iraqi journalist hurled two shoes at US President George W. Bush in Baghdad, he threw the well-worn trainer from near the back of the auditorium.

It landed about a yard (metre) from the Chinese premier, but did not hit him.

Security officials went on to the stage and kicked it off and a Chinese official took it away under his jacket.

The protester also blew a whistle. As he was bundled out, he said: “Stand up and protest.” Audience members retorted: “Shame on you, shame on you.”

Wen said after the interruption: “This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK.”

He received a round of applause from the audience, who were apparently mostly Chinese students.

The premier appeared unruffled by the incident and resumed his speech before taking questions.

Pro-Tibet protesters questioning China’s human rights record have demonstrated throughout Wen’s three-day visit to Britain.

Wen was to return home later Monday at the end of a trip that has also taken him to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and to Germany, the EU headquarters in Brussels and Spain.

- AFP: Cambridge throws shoe at Wen in Britain

China faces wave of unrest in 2009, state-run media says

By Chris Buckley, Reuters, 6 Jan 2009-

BEIJING (Reuters) - China faces surging protests and riots in 2009 as rising unemployment stokes discontent among migrant workers and university graduates, a state-run magazine said in a blunt warning about unrest in this sensitive year.

The unusually stark report was in this week’s Outlook (Liaowang) Magazine, issued by the official Xinhua news agency, which laid out the hazards facing China and its ruling Communist Party as growth falters during the global economic crisis.

“Without doubt, now we’re entering a peak period for mass incidents,” a senior Xinhua reporter, Huang Huo, told the magazine, using the official euphemism for riots and protests.

“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.”

President Hu Jintao has vowed to make China a “harmonious society,” but his promise is being strained by rising tension over shrinking jobs and incomes, as well as long-standing discontent over corruption and land seizures.

China is also facing a year of politically tense anniversaries, especially the 20th year since the June 1989 armed crackdown on pro-democracy protests. That anniversary has already galvanised a campaign by dissidents and rights advocates demanding deep democratic reforms.

Huang said many Chinese citizens had shed their reluctance to confront officials.

“Social conflicts have already formed a certain social, mass base so that as soon as there is an appropriate fuse it always swiftly explodes and clashes escalate quickly,” said Huang.

Outlook Magazine arrived with subscribers on Tuesday and the article also appeared on Xinhua’s website (www.xinhuanet.com). China’s leaders are usually secretive about threats to their control and the unusually blunt public warning may be intended to help snap officials to attention……. (more details from Reuters)

Eviction Protests Quashed in Northwest China

Radio Free Asia, 2008-11-26 -

Authorities in Xingping, in China’s northern Shaanxi province, have launched a major campaign to evict villagers from their homes to make way for the expansion of a chemical plant.

HONG KONG— Authorities in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi have launched a crackdown on villagers who blockaded a fertilizer plant in protest at plans to resettle them to make way for its expansion.

“At one time, the villagers totally blocked the entrance to the fertilizer plant, which caused a big stir,” a source close to the situation said. “There were some journalists there taking pictures but no reports were ever published. A lot of police and armed police were mobilized.”

The crackdown began around three weeks ago, he said. “The municipal Party secretary and the mayor both came to the scene to talk to the people. They promised that the expansion would be temporarily halted and the incident would be forgotten.”

More than 1,000 residents of Xiaofu village, Xingping city, are complaining about forced evictions with insufficient compensation and a lack of due process amid plans to expand a fertilizer plant owned by the Shaanxi Xinghua Chemical Co.

Reports have been posted online by netizens who say they are residents of Xiaofu village protesting the expansion. Those reports said villagers were offered compensation of 50,000 yuan (U.S.$7,300) per person.

However, the dispute arose over the fact that compensation issues were still not fully agreed when demolition gangs began moving in, the online reports said……. (more details from Radio Free Asia)

Hundreds of workers riot in south China over unemployment: report

AFP, Nov. 26, 2008-

GUANGZHOU, China (AFP) — Hundreds of laid off workers rioted in southern China amid a dispute over severance pay, smashing offices of a toy factory and clashing with police, state press said Wednesday.

The unrest in Guangdong province, the heartland of China’s export-oriented light industry, is the latest in a series of protests that have flared across the country amid rising unemployment linked to the global economic crisis.

The riot occurred Tuesday night in Dongguan, one of Guangdong’s major export hubs, after as many as 2,000 workers gathered to protest over their severance pay, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

“(Rioters) smashed one police vehicle and four police patrol cars… fought with security guards… and entered factory offices breaking windows and destroying equipment,” the paper said.

Five people were injured in the violence, it said, with the report also published on a news website run by the government. There were no reports of arrests.

The riot occurred at the Kaida Toy Factory, a company owned by a Hong Kong firm in Dongguan’s Zhongtang township that is in the process of laying off workers, according to the Guangzhou Daily.

The report said that up to 500 workers rioted, while 1,500 others “looked on.”…… (more details from AFP)

Central China Hit by Taxi Driver Strikes

Radio Free Asia, Nov. 25, 2008-

HONG KONG—Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hubei are scrambling to mediate a strike by taxi drivers, the latest in a string of industrial disputes to sweep China amid the global financial crisis.

Hundreds of taxi drivers entered the second day of a strike in Suizhou city over increased business costs.

“There is a new municipal government rule which requires each driver to pay a fee of 4,000 yuan (about U.S. $500),” a cab driver surnamed Zhang said.

Failure to do so by the end of the year would result in the confiscation of taxi licenses, she added.

Suizhou taxi drivers say they are currently making only about 100 yuan (U.S.$12) a day, and the new charge will virtually wipe out any profit. Talks between the drivers and city traffic management last week failed to reach a resolution.

Few taxis were visible on the streets of Suizhou Tuesday, as hundreds of taxi drivers gathered at the city’s railway station to petition the government. Drivers say one of their number was detained by the authorities……. (more details from Radio Free Asia)

(photos) Police beating villagers in northwest China protest

From secretchina.com -

China police beating villagers (1) (from secretchina.com)

China police beating villagers (2) (from secretchina.com)

China police beating villagers (3) (from secretchina.com)

China police beating villagers (4) (from secretchina.com)

China police beating villagers (5) (from secretchina.com)

China police beating villagers (6) (from secretchina.com)

China police beating villagers (7) (from secretchina.com)

China: Large-Scale Multiple Protests Break Out in Beijing

By Guo Meilan, Central News Agency (CNA), Via The Epochtimes, Nov 20, 2008 -

Large-scale protests broke out on November 19 in front of the Beijing Municipal Government. Over 1,000 people gathered onsite to strike for their rights.

Boxun News Network (http://www.boxun.com and http://www.peacehall.com/
news/gb/english/page3.shtml) posted a report on the protest including a 45 second long video recording, taken by people onsite. See video of protests.

According to the report, the protest started at 9 a.m. on November 19. Vehicles were forbidden to enter Zhengyi Road where the municipal government is located. Over 100 policemen were dispatched to disperse the crowed. At 11 a.m., police cordoned off the area surrounding the municipal government offices and then arrested some of protestors. Zhou Li, a rights activist, who was also the reporter of the  incident, told Central News Agency that the protesting crowd was composed of citizens who were swindled into   investing in  what was purported to be tree-planting in Inner Mongolia,  purchasing  retail rental space in a building in Beijing, as well as those whose  homes were demolished with no reasonable compensation. The three groups joined their protests together as the Beijing Municipal Government is not dealing with any of their situations.

Zhou said, that about  six months ago, the Yilin Corporation advertised on state-run television (CCTV) to encourage people to invest in  a tree-planting scheme in the arid northern region of Inner Mongolia, which lured them to purchase woods, with promises of huge returns within eight years. However, what people actually bought are pieces of barren land without any trees whatsoever.

A majority of the victims  were senior citizens, who invested their life savings and pensions. They were swindled for an average of over 100,000 Yuan (US $14,631) per person, and they made up half of the protestors on November 19.

Those people who were swindled in the tree-planting scheme  believe that the state-controlled CCTV got huge profits from the advertising, but cheated people. They think CCTV belongs to the country, so the government should take the responsibility.

Another group of protesters were conned into buying “retail rental space in a building” in Beijing—cheated by Xinguo Corporation, owned by the son of Li Peng, former Premier of China. Similarly, they lost a couple of 100,000 Yuan (US $14,631) on average per person. They were last seen being taken by police to a big bus, and their whereabouts are currently unknown.

- The Epochtimes: Large-Scale Multiple Protests Break Out in Beijing