Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) Hundreds of army veterans were dragged away by police after protesting for hours in front of the offices of the political department of the People's Liberation Army. Thousands of people participated in the 1 August demonstration. The date coincided with the 78th anniversary of the founding of the army. For months, the veterans have been calling for an increase in their pension. A shopkeeper in the area said he had seen thousands of demonstrators crowding at the gate of the army office. "I saw hundreds of people being taken away by police as they were protesting. This was at 7.30 in the morning when I was opening the shop," he said. In the afternoon, dozens of policemen patrolled the area. An armed guard said the army office was closed.
Yesterday's protest follows another in April, when 2,000 veterans stood in silence for 36 hours before the same office, asking for better treatment from the state. Among those spearheading the April protest was Gan Guozhong, a veteran of the Korea war who died last month from disease. Gan, who could not afford hospital treatment, was bedridden for the last six months of his life. Although he had served his country in wartime and was left with several injuries as a consequence, the government only financed 60,000 yuan (around 6,000 Euros) of his medical expenses over the last 10 years, and his family is still paying off medical debts.
As a veteran, in 1976, Gan obtained a place of work in a state-run firm in Heihe in Heilongjiang, but the firm went background after he was pensioned off in 1993. So he lost his pension and health insurance. The pension was restored to him in 2000 but not the health insurance. Gan protested for 10 years and some of his letters were forwarded to local administrators in his region. His son, Gan Baolin, also a veteran, said there was no clear-cut policy for cases like his father's, and that he thought the protest of the veterans was understandable: "They fought for the nation, risking their life. Now they are old, society has changed very much but they haven't got love or care from society or the government. My father died with regrets."
