towelie wrote:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=1512&e=12&u=/afp/20050127/wl_afp/chinatiananmenpoliticspetitioners_050127114011
BEIJING (AFP) - China has detained dozens of people, some of whom
have been
severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao
Ziyang,
witnesses said.
The allegations came as the government intensified security to
prevent
mourners attending Saturday's funeral in Beijing for Zhao, the former
Communist Party secretary general purged for opposing the 1989
military
crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy movement.
At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and
manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which
receive
complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said.
They were among some 60 people who pinned white paper flowers to
their
clothes, a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning, said a bystander
who took
pictures of the beatings and posted them on overseas websites.
"A man from Henan province was beaten badly. His left eyeball looked
like it
was beaten out of its socket and he had a one inch cut to his right
eye,"
said the man who requested anonymity.
"An elderly woman from Shandong province was beaten to a point where
she
couldn't move and a man from Hunan province was also beaten," he
said.
Police shouted at the petitioners that Zhao, who spent nearly 16
years under
house arrest until his death last week, was a "political criminal,"
the
witness said.
"They said: 'Why are you commemorating him? You're clearly opposing
the
government. But the petitioners said 'We think differently. We think
he's a
good person."
Also last week, an estimated 80 to 90 petitioners were rounded up
near
Zhao's traditional courtyard home in Beijing for trying to get inside
to pay
respects and express condolences to his family, petitioners said.
"In our petitioners' hostel, all 10 people who went were detained and
held
from from 9 am to 11 pm," said Bai Shuhua, one of the 10.
"In the police station, they said 'You don't seek leaders who are
alive, but
insist on seeking dead leaders. How can the dead help you?" Bai said.
One of the petitioners, Liu Hongbo, was punched twice as he yelled
"Zhao
didn't do anything wrong," Bai said.
Zhao, prime minister and head of the Communist Party for much of the
1980s,
died on January 17 at the age of 85.
The authorities fear his death and funeral on Saturday will be a
rallying
point for dissidents, petitioners and people dissatisfied with the
government.
Zhao was purged for opposing the military crackdown on the 1989
Tiananmen
Square pro-democracy protests in which hundreds, if not thousands,
were
killed.
China announced last week it would not hold memorial services for
Zhao but
only a "farewell activity for the body," which is effectively a
funeral.
In China it is common practice for bodies to be cremated rather than
buried.
But family members and the government have been in dispute over the
official
assessment of Zhao, the guest list and where his ashes should be
placed.
These issues have yet to be resolved, a family friend told AFP,
despite
agreement on the date for the funeral.
"The official assessment is still under discussion," said the friend,
who
asked not to be identified.
Asked which government officials might attend to pay their respects,
the
friend said: "It is still unclear."
Diplomatic sources told AFP last week that Premier Wen Jiabao paid a
secret
visit to the man, who used to be his boss, two weeks before he died
but
there was no word on whether he would attend the funeral.
Wen was famously pictured standing next to Zhao on Tiananmen Square
in the
last photograph before he was purged and placed under house arrest.
The government labels Zhao a former official who made a "grave
mistake" in
his handling of the Tiananmen protests, while acknowledging his
contributions towards economic reforms in the 1980s.
Zhao's family strongly objects to the words "grave mistake" being
included
in an official assessment of his legacy.
Such an assessment is normally agreed with the family before the
funeral. A
negative assessment could jeopardise the careers of the deceased's
offspring
within the party or the government, although most of Zhao's five
children
are in private business.
-------
Why does the US government allow trade with these human-rights
abusing
monsters? I don't see how Saddam's regime was any worse than the
current
Chinese government.
China is emerging as we really can't do anything about that. There are
a over a billion of them and they have nukes. We have to play nice for
our own good. I guess this is what it feels like to not be a
superpower.
--
"Shake says that books are from the devil, and that TV is twice as
fast" -
Meatwad
"The Constitution was written on reefer by dudes with wooden teeth" -
OG Loc
aa #2133
ap #19
.
