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China seeks to muzzle quake victim parents
FT.com / Asia-Pacific / China - China seeks to muzzle quake victim parents
By Jamil Anderlini in Mianzhu, Sichuan
Published: July 1 2008 23:31 | Last updated: July 1 2008 23:31
Chinese security forces are putting pressure on angry parents to abandon demands for a full investigation into why so many schools collapsed in the May earthquake in Sichuan province and have rounded up human rights workers in the earthquake-ravaged region.
In tent cities that have sprung up throughout the region, soldiers carrying batons patrol the streets and security agents and police have stepped up efforts to muzzle any sign of “social instability”.
An atmosphere of anxiety reigns among the parents of children killed in school collapses in the towns of Mianzhu and Dujiangyan as government and security officials apply increasing pressure on them to drop demands for a full investigation.
A parent in Dujiangyan said that officials had said “not to make trouble” and to quietly accept cash compensation of Rmb12,000 ($1,750) per child with the promise of a further Rmb20,000 ($2,917) to come later.
Police have harassed and followed journalists trying to interview parents in the town of Mianzhu who openly discussed their grievances at first but later asked to be left alone after meetings with local government officials.
The parents originally planned to lobby the provincial government through China’s petition system – the only formal channel for citizens dissatisfied with local officials – but they appeared to have abandoned that goal on Tuesday.
Beijing ordered a nationwide crackdown on dissent over the weekend, calling on all officials to ensure “zero mass petitions to Beijing, zero petitions to provincial capitals and no mass incidents during the Olympic Games period”.
According to Amnesty International: “Much of the current wave of repression is occurring not in spite of the Olympics, but actually because of the Olympics . . . in an apparent attempt to portray a ‘stable’ or ‘harmonious’ image to the world by August 2008.”
The same day that the directive was issued from Beijing, an estimated 30,000 rioters battled security forces, overturned police cars and set fire to a government office building in the town of Weng’an in Guizhou province, Sichuan’s southeastern neighbour.
The riot began after police ruled that a teenage girl had committed suicide, contradicting claims by her parents and relatives that three young men raped and murdered the girl.
Shi Zongyuan, party secretary of Guizhou, called the incident “a bare-faced challenge to the party and the government caused by a small number of people with ulterior motives under the influence of evil forces”, according to state media. A local party official denied that the children of local officials were involved in the girl’s death.
In Sichuan, at least five human rights activists have been detained, including Huang Qi, 45, a prominent human rights activist who was detained on June 10 and has now been charged with possession of state secrets.
On frequent trips to the epicentre after the quake, Mr Huang worked with the parents in Mianzhu, Dujiangyuan and other communities on how to launch a legal campaign and relatives and associates believe this led to his arrest.
“How can discussions with grieving parents be described as state secrets?” one of Mr Huang’s supporters asked in an interview with the Financial Times .
The Sichuan quake left more than 87,000 dead or missing and nearly 2,000,000 without the means to make a living, creating a massive floating population of potentially disaffected survivors of the disaster.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
FT.com / Asia-Pacific / China - China seeks to muzzle quake victim parents
By Jamil Anderlini in Mianzhu, Sichuan
Published: July 1 2008 23:31 | Last updated: July 1 2008 23:31
Chinese security forces are putting pressure on angry parents to abandon demands for a full investigation into why so many schools collapsed in the May earthquake in Sichuan province and have rounded up human rights workers in the earthquake-ravaged region.
In tent cities that have sprung up throughout the region, soldiers carrying batons patrol the streets and security agents and police have stepped up efforts to muzzle any sign of “social instability”.
An atmosphere of anxiety reigns among the parents of children killed in school collapses in the towns of Mianzhu and Dujiangyan as government and security officials apply increasing pressure on them to drop demands for a full investigation.
A parent in Dujiangyan said that officials had said “not to make trouble” and to quietly accept cash compensation of Rmb12,000 ($1,750) per child with the promise of a further Rmb20,000 ($2,917) to come later.
Police have harassed and followed journalists trying to interview parents in the town of Mianzhu who openly discussed their grievances at first but later asked to be left alone after meetings with local government officials.
The parents originally planned to lobby the provincial government through China’s petition system – the only formal channel for citizens dissatisfied with local officials – but they appeared to have abandoned that goal on Tuesday.
Beijing ordered a nationwide crackdown on dissent over the weekend, calling on all officials to ensure “zero mass petitions to Beijing, zero petitions to provincial capitals and no mass incidents during the Olympic Games period”.
According to Amnesty International: “Much of the current wave of repression is occurring not in spite of the Olympics, but actually because of the Olympics . . . in an apparent attempt to portray a ‘stable’ or ‘harmonious’ image to the world by August 2008.”
The same day that the directive was issued from Beijing, an estimated 30,000 rioters battled security forces, overturned police cars and set fire to a government office building in the town of Weng’an in Guizhou province, Sichuan’s southeastern neighbour.
The riot began after police ruled that a teenage girl had committed suicide, contradicting claims by her parents and relatives that three young men raped and murdered the girl.
Shi Zongyuan, party secretary of Guizhou, called the incident “a bare-faced challenge to the party and the government caused by a small number of people with ulterior motives under the influence of evil forces”, according to state media. A local party official denied that the children of local officials were involved in the girl’s death.
In Sichuan, at least five human rights activists have been detained, including Huang Qi, 45, a prominent human rights activist who was detained on June 10 and has now been charged with possession of state secrets.
On frequent trips to the epicentre after the quake, Mr Huang worked with the parents in Mianzhu, Dujiangyuan and other communities on how to launch a legal campaign and relatives and associates believe this led to his arrest.
“How can discussions with grieving parents be described as state secrets?” one of Mr Huang’s supporters asked in an interview with the Financial Times .
The Sichuan quake left more than 87,000 dead or missing and nearly 2,000,000 without the means to make a living, creating a massive floating population of potentially disaffected survivors of the disaster.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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