Protests and beatings in Guangzhou and Nanchang show everyday injustice in China
In Guangzhou, hundreds protest in the street to demand an investigation into a corrupt local Communist Party official. In Nanchang, men beat up a dead patient’s relatives—they wanted an explanation for his death. As hundreds come to their rescue, mayhem breaks out in the hospital.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Hundreds of people protested in front of the Guangzhou city government headquarters yesterday. As they waved banners wearing white shirts (pictured), they accused Li Zhihang, party secretary in Wanggang, an urban village in Guangzhou's Baiyun district, of embezzlement. Meanwhile, in Nanchang, men dressed in police uniform beat the relatives of a patient who had died in hospital. The latter wanted an explanation for his death.
Residents in Wanggang accuse village party boss Li of pocketing more than 400 million yuan, embezzling 850,000 yuan from local cooperatives as well as intervening in local elections.
Protesters targeted the closing ceremony of the World University Games in the city of Shenzhen in order to draw media attention to their plight and elicit an investigation into Li’s doings. However, as soon as the protest began, police swiftly moved in, seized the banners and dispersed the gathering. At least two demonstrators were taken into custody.
Hundreds of more people carried out a similar protest in Wanggang, blocking the nearby Nº 106 National Road.
For many analysts, a protest like this is symptomatic of growing dissatisfaction in Chinese society, where ordinary citizens are not protected against the abuses of local authorities or unable to turn to the courts, which are beholden to Communist Party, or to higher levels of government because their complaints or petitions are not heeded.
For many ordinary Chinese, public demonstrations, and the hope for media coverage they bring, are the only means to push higher levels of government to investigate cases of corruption and bring justice.
Yesterday, about 200 people, wielding sticks and metal bars, tried to storm the First Hospital of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi. They wanted an explanation for the death of a patient who died in the operating room. They clashed with more than 100 men armed with wooden or metal clubs. The incident ended when police arrived.
A local website said that prior to this incident, unidentified men chased and beat up the patient’s relatives and friends, smashing their cars, after the latter showed up at the hospital demanding an explanation for the man’s death.
This is the second incident of its kind in Nanchang. At the end of June, two relatives of a patient were beaten to death and four others injured when they, along with dozens of other relatives and friends, rushed into the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, where they were attacked by a group of unidentified men clad in what resembled police uniforms.
According to a 2011 study, China has had at least 90,000 episodes of mass protest, a number that for some underestimates the phenomenon.
A few years ago, China’s government stopped releasing official data about the problem, after data collected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences set the number at 80,000 in 2007.
Residents in Wanggang accuse village party boss Li of pocketing more than 400 million yuan, embezzling 850,000 yuan from local cooperatives as well as intervening in local elections.
Protesters targeted the closing ceremony of the World University Games in the city of Shenzhen in order to draw media attention to their plight and elicit an investigation into Li’s doings. However, as soon as the protest began, police swiftly moved in, seized the banners and dispersed the gathering. At least two demonstrators were taken into custody.
Hundreds of more people carried out a similar protest in Wanggang, blocking the nearby Nº 106 National Road.
For many analysts, a protest like this is symptomatic of growing dissatisfaction in Chinese society, where ordinary citizens are not protected against the abuses of local authorities or unable to turn to the courts, which are beholden to Communist Party, or to higher levels of government because their complaints or petitions are not heeded.
For many ordinary Chinese, public demonstrations, and the hope for media coverage they bring, are the only means to push higher levels of government to investigate cases of corruption and bring justice.
Yesterday, about 200 people, wielding sticks and metal bars, tried to storm the First Hospital of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi. They wanted an explanation for the death of a patient who died in the operating room. They clashed with more than 100 men armed with wooden or metal clubs. The incident ended when police arrived.
A local website said that prior to this incident, unidentified men chased and beat up the patient’s relatives and friends, smashing their cars, after the latter showed up at the hospital demanding an explanation for the man’s death.
This is the second incident of its kind in Nanchang. At the end of June, two relatives of a patient were beaten to death and four others injured when they, along with dozens of other relatives and friends, rushed into the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, where they were attacked by a group of unidentified men clad in what resembled police uniforms.
According to a 2011 study, China has had at least 90,000 episodes of mass protest, a number that for some underestimates the phenomenon.
A few years ago, China’s government stopped releasing official data about the problem, after data collected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences set the number at 80,000 in 2007.
.png)
See also
