2012-01-23
Police tighten controls over impoverished Chinese seeking redress for injustices.
Chinese women petitioners kneeling as they cry outside a court in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, May 13, 2010.
As millions of Chinese sat down to lavish dinners or paid traditional Lunar New Year visits to family and friends, Beijing police moved to tighten controls over homeless petitioners from across the country living rough in sub-zero temperatures after eviction from their homes.
"There are a few dozen people living under the Yongdingmen gate in a handful of tents, and it's very cold," said Liu Jinwei, a petitioner who is seeking redress after losing his home to a local government-backed development project.
"There are another 20 people living under the underpass near the Qiaosi Guesthouse," Liu said, adding that petitioners were having trouble keeping warm amid the festivities.
"[On Sunday] we were at the Yongdingmen long-distance bus station, where a few of us made a fire from pieces of wood ... and cooked a meal."
"It's hard when there's nothing to drive away the cold," Liu said. "We were pretty sad, but what can we do? The government won't resolve our problem."
He said any petitioners who gave their names and identity card numbers to complaints offices in central government departments in Beijing had now been added to a blacklist.
"I was talking to a petitioner from Heilongjiang who said that now ... they won't sell you a ticket, or even if they do, they'll tell the police on the train, who will detain you."
He said a group of petitioners had converged on the Beijing residence of Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday, the first day of the Year of the Dragon, hoping to "pay a New Year visit."
"They go every year to visit Wen Jiabao, but it doesn't do much good," Liu said.
'Rounded up'
Gao Hongyi, a retired People's Liberation Army officer from the eastern port city of Qingdao, said his local government is holding him in an unofficial detention center on the outskirts of the city used by the government to control petitioners who travel to Beijing.
"The representative office told me not to go pleading at the gates of Zhongnanhai," said Gao, referring to the high-security compound that is the Beijing home of the ruling Communist Party elite.
"To get to Zhongnanhai you have to go to Tiananmen Square, and I was detained by police and taken to Jiujingzhuang."
He said he plans to try again after the holiday season is over.
A group of 50-60 petitioners from Shanghai were also detained alongside Gao.
"Today is the first day of the New Year, so we wanted to go and pay Premier Wen Jiabao a New Year visit," said petitioner Lu Ying.
"We were rounded up by the Beijing police, who took us to Jiujingzhuang."
"They didn't give us any water to drink, and there was no heating or anything to eat," she said.
New fees
A separate group of petitioners held a protest on Sunday at the fees charged by an "emergency relief center" near the Yongdingmen train station in Beijing.
"In previous years, they never charged a fee," said a petitioner surnamed Huang from the northeastern province of Jilin.
"They are charging five yuan a night for a bed, and 15 yuan for three meals a day; that's 20 yuan (U.S.$3.15) a day."
"They take your money, but they don't give you a receipt."
Many petitioners have no homes and no income, and say that such a fee to stay warm and fed over the New Year period are utterly beyond them.
A Shanghai petitioner surnamed Cheng said she had taken part in a protest over the new "fees," joining hundreds of petitioners chanting for the reception center management to come out and talk to them.
"Where do we have that kind of money?" said Cheng, who relies on begging to survive. "There were 400-500 people protesting, calling for the bosses to come out."
"Then the police came and drove us away," she said.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service, and by Grace Kei Lai-see for the Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
"There are a few dozen people living under the Yongdingmen gate in a handful of tents, and it's very cold," said Liu Jinwei, a petitioner who is seeking redress after losing his home to a local government-backed development project.
"There are another 20 people living under the underpass near the Qiaosi Guesthouse," Liu said, adding that petitioners were having trouble keeping warm amid the festivities.
"[On Sunday] we were at the Yongdingmen long-distance bus station, where a few of us made a fire from pieces of wood ... and cooked a meal."
"It's hard when there's nothing to drive away the cold," Liu said. "We were pretty sad, but what can we do? The government won't resolve our problem."
He said any petitioners who gave their names and identity card numbers to complaints offices in central government departments in Beijing had now been added to a blacklist.
"I was talking to a petitioner from Heilongjiang who said that now ... they won't sell you a ticket, or even if they do, they'll tell the police on the train, who will detain you."
He said a group of petitioners had converged on the Beijing residence of Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday, the first day of the Year of the Dragon, hoping to "pay a New Year visit."
"They go every year to visit Wen Jiabao, but it doesn't do much good," Liu said.
'Rounded up'
Gao Hongyi, a retired People's Liberation Army officer from the eastern port city of Qingdao, said his local government is holding him in an unofficial detention center on the outskirts of the city used by the government to control petitioners who travel to Beijing.
"The representative office told me not to go pleading at the gates of Zhongnanhai," said Gao, referring to the high-security compound that is the Beijing home of the ruling Communist Party elite.
"To get to Zhongnanhai you have to go to Tiananmen Square, and I was detained by police and taken to Jiujingzhuang."
He said he plans to try again after the holiday season is over.
A group of 50-60 petitioners from Shanghai were also detained alongside Gao.
"Today is the first day of the New Year, so we wanted to go and pay Premier Wen Jiabao a New Year visit," said petitioner Lu Ying.
"We were rounded up by the Beijing police, who took us to Jiujingzhuang."
"They didn't give us any water to drink, and there was no heating or anything to eat," she said.
New fees
A separate group of petitioners held a protest on Sunday at the fees charged by an "emergency relief center" near the Yongdingmen train station in Beijing.
"In previous years, they never charged a fee," said a petitioner surnamed Huang from the northeastern province of Jilin.
"They are charging five yuan a night for a bed, and 15 yuan for three meals a day; that's 20 yuan (U.S.$3.15) a day."
"They take your money, but they don't give you a receipt."
Many petitioners have no homes and no income, and say that such a fee to stay warm and fed over the New Year period are utterly beyond them.
A Shanghai petitioner surnamed Cheng said she had taken part in a protest over the new "fees," joining hundreds of petitioners chanting for the reception center management to come out and talk to them.
"Where do we have that kind of money?" said Cheng, who relies on begging to survive. "There were 400-500 people protesting, calling for the bosses to come out."
"Then the police came and drove us away," she said.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service, and by Grace Kei Lai-see for the Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
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