Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - More than a thousand Chinese have been arrested in recent days for having tried to submit to the government denunciations of wrongs that they have suffered.  In view of the National People's Congress (NPC), which began on March 5, citizens have been arriving from all over the country to present petitions and ask for justice, but the police arrest them as soon as they arrive in Beijing and detain them before sending them back home.

One of these is Huang Caipiao from Fujian, a shrimp farmer who is asking for compensation for the seizure of his business: he was stopped by police on March 3, and taken to an "unofficial" detention centre in Majialou, in the southern part of the capital. "I’d say there were more than 1,000 petitioners from across the country in Majialou", he tells the agency Radio Free Asia. While he was in custody, he also spoke with the journalist Han Qing, also "detained" prior to being sent back to the city of Lianjiang. Huang says "I have lost all hope": he has come to Beijing 15 times to ask for justice, but has received only one year in prison.

A woman, Lin Xiuli, recounts that in 2003 she was thrown from the sixth floor of a building, but her attackers were acquitted.  So she came to present a petition to the supreme court in Beijing, but the police stopped her and sent her back to Qingdao, where she is now detained in a "study class for petitioners".

The Chinese often ask the central government for justice against corrupt local authorities, but the police - explains human rights activist Huang Qi - intercept them as soon as they arrive, and send them back.  The state news agency Xinhua says that on March 5 alone it received about 1.5 million e-mail messages with requests, questions, and comments for the NPC.

Meanwhile, Beijing is preparing temporary places for prayer and religious assistance for the Olympic teams, inside the Olympic Village.  Official sources explain that 10 imams who speak either Arabic or English will be available, as well as Christian priests and sisters who know English and French. Liu Bainian, vice president of the patriotic association (the official Church, controlled by the government) takes pains to explain that all of the Catholic churches will be open to Catholic tourists, and that the possibility of "equipping" hotels with Bibles for foreign visitors "is under study".

Experts comment that it seems significant that official agencies need to intervene in order to assure the right of Catholic tourists to be able to go to a church to pray.