Thousands of petitioners arrested in Beijing
Hope and despair fill those who seek justice. Repression includes arrests, beatings and hospitalisation in mental institutions Human rights activists complain of abuses, “disappearances”, and suspicious deaths in government ‘black jails’.
Beijing (AsiaNews/RFA) – The authorities in Beijing have detained thousands of people who converged in the capital to voice grievances against government officials in their hometowns.
Whilst most Chinese got together with family to mark the Chinese New Year, crowds have continued to gather outside central government offices since the first day of the new year on Saturday, some in the hope of meeting President Xi Jinping.
Many petitioners complain about forced evictions, illegal detentions or corruption related to land deals and want higher authorities to intervene.
Wu Jixin, a petitioner from the eastern province of Jiangsu, said he had been detained after staging a mini-protest during which he raised a banner with around a dozen fellow petitioners.
He said local government "interceptors" had been hard at work in Beijing detaining anyone from their region who complained about the government there.
"The local governments are detaining people left, right, and centre in Beijing because petitioning puts these governments under more political pressure," Wu explained. "The petitioners just want their grievances to be dealt with."
Large numbers of people are now being held in huge detention centres on the outskirts of Beijing for "registration," before being sent home under the escort of interceptors. "There are several thousand people in Majialou [detention center]," Wu said.
Zhongnanhai, headquarters of the Communist Party in the heart of Beijing, is off-limits. A thousand police officers are deployed in and around Tiananmen Square to check identity papers and prevent people from entering. The same goes for tourists and protesters alike.
Many petitioners who came to Zhongnanhai are now sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures because they cannot afford a hotel.
Meanwhile, the Weiquanwang rights website reported that Beijing rights activists Wu Yufen, Wu Jixin, Tang Shuxiu, Yang Jinzhi, and several others were detained after unfurling a banner wishing all jailed petitioners a Happy New Year.
The petitioners' greetings were aimed at Liu Feiyue, who founded the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, and Huang Qi, who founded the Tianwang rights website, among others.
Interceptors frequently use violence against petitioners on the journey home, activists say.
On 22 January, a pregnant petitioner from the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang said she was beaten, kicked, and bound and gagged on the long road trip home from Beijing.
Earlier this month, petitioners Wang Shetao and Li Xiaocui, of Luoyang's Liangzhai village, reportedly burnt to death in murky circumstances in a fire at a police station where they were detained.
Petitioners also frequently complain of beatings from police back home, harassment by landlords and employers, and incarceration in psychiatric hospitals when they have no mental illness.
Deaths and "disappearances" in unofficial detention centres, also known as ‘black jails’, are not uncommon, but evidence of police wrongdoing is hard to come by when authorities typically refuse to allow independent autopsies.
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