Beijing (AsiaNews/Reuters) About 2,000 retired People's Liberation Army (PLA) servicemen protested in Beijing, demanding pension increases.
On Monday and Tuesday, 1,500 retired PLA officers from 20 provinces wearing their old uniforms staged silent sit-down protests in front of the General Political Department, a branch of the PLA which oversees personnel, propaganda dissemination, song and dance troupes and athletes.
On Wednesday, more than 400 retired rank-and-file soldiers staged a similar, albeit brief protest.
Police and officials dispersed the protest by forcibly putting the petitioners on rented buses and sending them back to their hometowns.
The back-to-back demonstrations from Monday to Wednesday (April 11-13) were the biggest by veterans in China since the 1949 revolution.
"The government was caught unprepared . . . It is worried veterans will continue to link up and bring chaos to society," an anonymous source said.
The Chinese government allocated US$ 60 billion to its military budget in 2004, but pensions for retired servicemen average 300 yuan (US$ 30).
The authorities are concerned about the dissent among armed forces veterans because the Communist Party has always relied on the PLA to maintain its five-decade-old monopoly on power
The demonstrations were all the more unnerving for Beijing which sent PLA troops backed by tanks to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
The PLA also played a crucial role in ending the Cultural Revolution and removing the Gang of Four from power in 1976.