Thread: China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution'

China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution' - Yahoo! News

China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution'

By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Cara Anna, Associated Press – Sat Feb 19, 12:08 pm ET

BEIJING – Chinese authorities cracked down on activists as a call circulated for people to gather in more than a dozen cities Sunday for a "Jasmine Revolution."

The source of the call was not known, but authorities moved to halt its spread online. Searches for the word "jasmine" were blocked Saturday on China's largest Twitter-like microblog, and the website where the request first appeared said it was hit by an attack.

Activists seemed not to know what to make of the call to protest, even as they passed it on. They said they were unaware of any known group being involved in the request for citizens to gather in 13 cities and shout "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness."

Some even wondered whether the call was "performance art" instead of a serious move in the footsteps of recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya.

China has limited reporting on the protests in the Middle East and quickly shuts down most protests at home.

Authorities appeared to be treating the protest call seriously. Families and friends reported the detention or harassment of several activists, and some said they had been warned not to participate Sunday.

Police pulled Beijing lawyer JiangTianyong into a car and drove away, his wife, Jin Bianling, said. She told The Associated Press by phone she was still waiting for more information Saturday night.

Su Yutong, an activist who now lives in Germany, said that even if Chinese authorities suspect the call to protest wasn't serious, Saturday's actions showed they still feared it.

"If they act this way, they'll push this performance art into the real thing," she said in an e-mail.

In a Twitter post, Su listed at least 14 people who had been taken away and called that count incomplete.

Tensions were already high in recent days after a video secretly made under house arrest by one of China's most well-known activist lawyers, Chen Guangcheng, was made public. Chen and his wife reportedly were beaten in response, and some of Chen's supporters reported being detained or beaten by authorities after meeting to discuss his case.

The call for a "Jasmine Revolution" came as President Hu Jintao gave a speech to top leaders Saturday, asking them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society."
The ruling CommunistParty is dogged by the threat of social unrest over rising food and housing prices and other issues.

In the latest price increase, the National Development and Reform Commission announced Saturday that gasoline and diesel prices would be raised by 350 yuan ($53) per ton.

The call to protest was first posted on the U.S.-based Chinese-language website Boxun.com. "Boxun has no way to verify the background of this and did not participate," it said.

The Boxun site was unavailable Saturday, and reported being attacked.

"This is the most serious denial of service attack we have received," it said in a statement. "We believe the attack is related to the Jasmine Revolution proposed on Feb. 20 in China."

China preventing Egypt syndrome — RT

China preventing Egypt syndrome

Published: 19 February, 2011, 22:12
Edited: 20 February, 2011, 08:30


Supporters of Chinese President Hu Jintao


Calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” in China have popped up on the internet. Several activists have been detained, and access to a number of sites and social networks has been restricted.

[at]Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have, for several days, been spreading calls for the Chinese people to gather in 13 cities across the country and start the "Chinese Jasmine Revolution," according to the Taiwanese news site WantChinaTimes.com. The proposal is to hold the demonstrations on Sunday.

The demonstrations would focus on unemployment, food and housing, as well as political reforms and an end to censorship of the press, WantChinaTimes.com reported.

Several Chinese sites that re-posted the messages were put out by anonymous hacker attacks. A local Twitter-like microblog blocked searches for the word “jasmine.” Nevertheless, the messages continue circulating.

Chinese authorities have started to detain activists, though the exact organizers are not known, as reported by the Associated Press.

It remains highly questionable whether the calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” will gain much traction. Only a small per cent of the Chinese people have access to the internet, and the Communist Party widely uses its power to censor or block the sites they consider to be against the regime.

Arrests as China web users call for revolution - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Arrests as China web users call for revolution

By China correspondent Stephen McDonell, wires
Updated 2 hours 37 minutes ago

• Related Story: Chinese firewall blocks calls for revolution

Calls on the internet for China to stage its own Egypt-style revolution have led to activists being arrested and a tense stand-off in the middle of Beijing.

As many as 15 high-profile Chinese activists and human rights lawyers have been rounded up by authorities, according to their supporters.

They are reportedly being held in custody without charges.

The detentions follow calls on the internet for China to follow Egypt and Tunisia with its own "Jasmine Revolution".

The postings, many of which appeared to have originated on overseas websites run by exiled Chinese political activists, called for protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and 10 other major Chinese cities.

At the suggested time and place for protests to begin in the heart of Beijing, hundreds of police were on hand.

There was a tense stand-off as crowds of onlookers gathered as well as dozens of foreign reporters.

Scuffles broke out and at least two people were seen being taken away by police, one for cursing at the authorities and another person who was shouting: "I want food to eat".

It is unclear if they were trying to protest.

According to Internet postings, only a few demonstrators appeared in other cities, although large police contingents were seen at designated protest spots in Shanghai, Harbin, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

Chinese authorities have sought to restrict media reports on the recent political turmoil that began in Tunisia as the "Jasmine Revolution" and spread to Egypt and across the Middle East.

Unemployment and rising prices have been key factors linked to the unrest that has also spread to Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya.

Searches on Sunday for "Jasmine Revolution" on China's Twitter-like micro-blog Weibo produced no results, while messages on the popular Baidu search engine said that due to laws and regulations such results were unavailable.

Some Chinese Internet search pages listed "jasmine" postings but links to them were blocked.

The Chinese government has expended tremendous resources to police the Internet and block anti-government postings and other politically sensitive material with a system known as the "Great Firewall of China".

- ABC/AFP

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

The Chinese government has expended tremendous resources to police the Internet and block anti-government postings and other politically sensitive material with a system known as the "Great Firewall of China".

The Chinese will go to any lengths necessary to prevent or quell any demonstrations. Demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt should not be used as a template to be copied in China. The outcome of the demonstrations will in no way resemble what happened in Egypt.

It's the big one!

If China gets the bug....will we see another Tiananmen Square? I imagine so.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

It's the big one!

If China gets the bug....will we see another Tiananmen Square? I imagine so.

Keep your britches on. There is call and punditry out there throughout the speculative circles that suggest that this latest batch of regional unrest could be mirrored elsewhere. One popular revolt cannot be compared with another. These predictable and comparative models are to be expected by those whom see the world as a homogenous sector. All quite moot, frankly.

^ Of course RS, one can not be compared with another, just look at Libya, the slaughter is horrendous and there's no way that Gaddafi is going to give up his power. I expect the Chinese to be the same. Add in the logistics of a Chinese upheaval and yes, of course, it is vastly different.

Still, I do love to dream.

China: Internet call for "Jasmine Revolution" attracts small turnout, mainly police | GlobalPost

China: Internet call for "Jasmine Revolution" attracts small turnout, mainly police

China detained up to 100 activists after an internet call went out for protests in major Chinese cities.

News DeskFebruary 20, 2011 08:22


Police keep watch along the Wanfujing shopping street in Beijing after protesters gathered on Feb. 20, 2011. Postings circulating on the Internet called on disgruntled Chinese to gather in public places in 13 major cities to mark the "Jasmine Revolution" spreading through the Middle East. Feb. 20, 2011. (Peter Parks/Getty Images)

Police in China showed up in force in several major cities after an online call for a "jasmine revolution," encouraging citizens to stage protests at 2 p.m. in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities.

Wary of any domestic dissent, the authorities detained activists, increased the number of police on the streets, disconnected some mobile phone text messaging services and censored internet postings about the call, according to the Associated Press.

Up to 100 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday, with police also descending onto protest sites around the nation, campaigners said.

But according to the AP, many activists said they didn't know who was behind the campaign and weren't sure what to make of the call to protest, which first circulated Saturday on the U.S.-based, Chinese-language news website Boxun.com.

And the campaign reportedly did not gain much traction among ordinary citizens. Beijing maintains tight controls over the media and internet, and hundreds, even thousands, were killed when a student-led, pro-democracy movement in 1989 was crushed by the military.

The chances of overthrowing the Communist government are considered slim.

"We welcome... laid off workers and victims of forced evictions to participate in demonstrations, shout slogans and seek freedom, democracy and political reform to end 'one party rule,' " one internet posting said.
Protesters were urged to shout slogans including "We want food to eat", "We want work", "We want housing", "We want justice", "Long live freedom" and "Long live democracy."

According to postings on web forums, only a few demonstrators appeared in other cities, although large police contingents were seen at designated protest spots in Shanghai, Harbin, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

Reports from Shanghai and Beijing said there appeared to be many onlookers curious about the presence of so many police and journalists at the proposed protest sites, in busy city-center shopping areas.

"I don't think the call to protest was serious, no one really intended to protest because there are too many police," leading rights lawyer Li Jinsong told Agence France-Presse.

"By taking this so seriously, police are showing how concerned they are that the Jasmine Revolution could influence China's social stability," referring to the revolt in Tunisia that kicked off similar uprisings in the Arab world.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/48897/...cal-stability/

Beijing says most Chinese want political stability

By AP News Feb 22, 2011 10:00AM UTC

BEIJING (AP) — The Foreign Ministry in Beijing has refused to comment directly on calls for a so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in China but said nothing could shake the majority’s desire for political stability and harmony.

Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu sidestepped a reporter’s question at a regular press briefing on Tuesday about recent online calls for protests in 13 cities. He said Tuesday the topic wasn’t a foreign affairs issue.

But he added that most Chinese people crave social and political stability and want to live and work in peace and contentment.

“This is something that no person or force can shake,” Ma said.

This wave of peoples revolution sweeping the world has them crapping themselves.
No news at all about it here.

"Call me if there's a revolution"

By Melissa Chan in

• Asia

on February 20th, 2011.


Photo by Reuters

"Call me if there's a revolution."

That's what I told my friend, also a journalist, as he headed to central Beijing. I did not go. Not because I've become a lackadaisical journalist, but because I was pretty certain nothing would happen and that it would be a waste of my Sunday afternoon (instead, I started reading Richard McGregor's book,

Amazon.com: The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers (9780061708770): Richard Mcgregor: Books


On Twitter and China's more popular microblog Sina Weibo, users were reposting calls to gather across 13 major cities in China to protest and kick off a so-called "Jasmine Revolution", clearly inspired by the events in North Africa and the Middle East over the past few weeks. It's unclear where this plan initiated - but what is clear is that none of the usual suspects from China's activist and human rights community knew much about the march - some expressing doubt, others simply reposting the plan to gather at squares and city hot spots.

Never mind the culprit though - police officers peremptorily swept in and rounded up at least a dozen dissidents overnight. Sina Weibo censors kicked in, and any tweets referencing jasmines were deleted. There were unconfirmed reports that students at some universities were told they could not leave campus for the day. In some cities, online users told of a greater show of police on the streets.

So at 2 pm sharp, there was no congregation of Chinese - but quite a congregation of journalists and police waiting for this imaginary revolution.

Over the past few weeks, as country after country witnessed protests, there has been a China subtext, with many people wondering if the same thing that happened in Egypt could happen in China. This question was especially asked by many with the news that China's Sina Weibo had apparently started censoring searches for the word "Egypt".

Here's why I think China won't be having a revolution anytime soon:
-- The government knows how Twitter and Facebook work and have a sophisticated system of censorship, supported by an army of people and software. This means there really isn't a means for anyone to organise protests here the way the students did in Egypt with online tools. Anything of the sort would be deleted almost immediately after posting.

-- Speaking of students, Chinese students would probably riot if you took away their iPhones with the Angry Birds computer game on it, sooner than they would rise up to demand greater human rights. This is because college students are privileged. Most of them grew up in cities, where their parents paid tutors to supplement their education so they could do well in the all-important high school examination that got them into university in the first place. They are comfortable and middle-class, and have too much to lose to bother rabble rousing.

-- People in China have a lot to complain about. But consider the many Americans who complain about how their country is going downhill these days. It's not quite the same, but it's a good enough comparison to give you a better idea of how dissatisfied people here are with their government. In other words - people will complain, but few would actually do anything to change the system, because the system is just good enough. Most people have food, shelter, clothing, the basics - and still remember a time when things in China were much poorer.

-- The revolution did happen. In 1989. And it failed, with the People's Liberation Army tanks and guns firing on civilians. Back then, the Chinese government had let the demonstrations get out of hand, with some officials sympathising with protesters' calls for reform. Sympathy or no sympathy today, leaders have learned their lesson and they will never let anything get out of hand like that again.

So you might ask... why does all the news out of China seems to always talk about repression, dissatisfied people, worker protests, and the whole lot that suggests this is a country on the brink?

The best way I can explain it is partly the nature of news - that old adage that "no news is good news". As a journalist, I sometimes worry about all the focus on negative news - and we do occasionally try to bring you a fun, uplifting report. But part of the purpose of our jobs, I think, is to hold truth to power and play a watchdog role in the countries we cover. Otherwise, how can institutions and governments improve and thereby improve the lives of ordinary people?

And the other part of the explanation, is that the gross human rights violations, protests, and injustices which occur in this country happen to a small minority of the 1.3 billion people here. As I have mentioned already - people here complain, but they're usually not so worked up about it to actually do anything. China is a place where the rule of law is weak. But what this means is that if you're an ordinary person, just like an ordinary person anywhere else, you will not likely in your lifetime see the inside of a courtroom or a police station or feel the need to retain a lawyer. Life is humdrum with its natural ups and downs for most.

So the big problem is little rule of law. Many of the stories we do on the road go down to there being little rule of law, and it's an issue with the potential to prevent China from ever becoming a great, stable and progressive power. But this is another story, a big topic for another time.

For now, I'll just leave with the anecdote tweeted by McClatchy Newspaper's Tom Lasseter, who did swing over Sunday afternoon to check up on things:

"Watching large crowd of cameras following around the police, young woman in Dior sunglasses asked me if there was a celebrity" or something.

And for more on the actual incident, check out this posting on China Geeks.

Renewed call for 'Jasmine rallies' in China
2011-02-23


Police keep watch in Beijing after protesters gathered on February 20, 2011.
AFP

"What we need to do now is to put pressure on the Chinese ruling (Communist) party"

BEIJING: An online appeal has urged people in 13 Chinese cities to rally every Sunday to press for government transparency and free expression, following a call last week for Middle East-style protests.

The new call, posted this week on the overseas-based website Boxun.com, appeared to be from the same group behind a mysterious web campaign for protests last Sunday echoing those that have rocked the Arab world.

That earlier call to action sparked a heavy police turnout at designated protests sites in Beijing and at least a dozen other cities. They appeared lightly attended, however, and free of major incident.

"What we need to do now is to put pressure on the Chinese ruling (Communist) party," said the renewed appeal.

"If the party does not conscientiously fight corruption and accept the supervision of the people, then will it please exit the stage of history."

In an apparent attempt to make a statement without falling foul of China's security forces, participants were urged not to take any overt action but encouraged to merely show up at what the letter called "strolling" protests.

"We invite every participant to stroll, watch, or even just pretend to pass by. As long as you are present, the authoritarian government will be shaking with fear," it said.

China's government has indicated growing unease over the wave of Middle East unrest, heavily censoring or blocking media reports and online discussion of the upheaval, which has toppled presidents in Tunisia and Egypt.

The call for "Jasmine Rallies" -- a reference to Tunisia's "Jasmine revolution" that sparked the turmoil spreading across the Middle East and North Africa -- was labelled as an "open letter" to China's rubber-stamp parliament.

The National People's Congress opens its annual session on March 5.

The open letter appeared to set the stage for a protracted but low-pressure bid to push authorities in Beijing for change, using the heavily policed Internet and word-of-mouth to get the message out.

The letter echoed a number of the common threads seen in the Arab protests, including anger over government corruption, a lack of transparency and official accountability, and the stifling of Internet and media freedoms.

"If the government is not sincere about solving the problems, but only wants to censor the Internet and block information to suppress the protests, the protests will only get stronger," it said.

A large police presence was seen at the gathering site in Beijing's central Wangfujing shopping district on Sunday, but there were no overt demonstrations.

At least two people were seen being taken away by police, one for cursing at the authorities and another who was shouting: "I want food to eat."

No mention of the new protest call could immediately be seen on China-based websites or blogs.

thehimalayantimes.com

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

^ Of course RS, one can not be compared with another, just look at Libya, the slaughter is horrendous and there's no way that Gaddafi is going to give up his power. I expect the Chinese to be the same. Add in the logistics of a Chinese upheaval and yes, of course, it is vastly different.

Still, I do love to dream.

Dream. A hypothetically successful revolt in China would result in what? A mirror of the West? Even to suggest that any and every "freedom" movement worldwide would result in a Western Democratic fashion might be looked upon as fancy. Suppose they don't look upon us as a definitive example, as there is nothing to be cherish by the Euro-model.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-in-China.html

Online activists calling for Jasmine revolution arrested in China

Three Chinese online users have been charged with subversion for re-posting calls for a Jasmine revolution on the internet, a Hong Kong-based civil rights groups has reported.



A policeman urges people to leave as they gather in front of a McDonald's restaurant which was the planned protest site in Beijing Photo: AP


By Peter Foster, Beijing and agencies
1:36AM GMT 25 Feb 2011

The arrests are further evidence of Beijing's determination to stamp out any attempt to foment Middle East-style protests in China after a foreign-based website, boxun.com, issued a call for nationwide demonstrations against one-party rule.

The charges have been made under China's draconian "subversion of state power" laws, a catch-all that enables China's ruling Communist Party to jail anyone it deems to be challenging its right to rule.

Liu Xiaobo, the dissident who won this year's Nobel peace prize is currently serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted on subversion charges.

Liang Haiyi, an unemployed 35-year-old woman in the northeast city of Harbin, was taken away Saturday after putting information about the protests on a Chinese chat rooms, according to a lawyer, said the statement by Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy She was questioned and taken away in handcuffs, and her ex-husband has received an official notice saying she has been charged with subversion, added the lawyer, who said he had spoken to the woman's ex-husband.

"I don't think she's broken any law, she only reposted someone else's writings on the Chinese internet and it wasn't her own writing," said Liang Xiaojun said. "Anyone overseas can see these materials." Also detained for spreading word of the planned protest online were Hua Chunhui, from Wuxi city in eastern China, and Chen Wei from Suining city in the southwest, the group said in its statement.

The anonymous calls for protests in China failed to generate significant interest last weekend when any protesters were outnumbered by police, journalists and followers of the microblog site Twitter.com, which is blocked in China.

Apparently undeterred, the organisers reiterated their calls this week, posting locations in 18 Chinese cities the length and breadth of China calling on people to come out against China's autocratic rulers.
"We invite every participant to stroll, watch or even just pretend to pass by. As long as you are present, the authoritarian government will be shaking with fear," said the open letter posted on the US-based Chinese-language website Boxun.com, which is blocked in China.

The Chinese authorities have oscillated between pouring scorn on the failed calls to protest – a senior Party official described the idea of a Chinese Jasmine revolution as "preposterous and unrealistic" – and heavy handed use of China's massive internal security apparatus.

Online censorship has been stepped up and as many as 100 activists are reported to have been detained or put under house arrest over the last week as the authorities move to snuff out any prospect of anti-government movement taking hold.

Human Rights in China, an advocacy group based in New York, listed 29 lawyers and dissidents who had been detained, confined, searched or questioned by police or government agents since the Jasmine protest calls first appeared.

In the past week senior Party leaders, including the Chinese President Hu Jintao, have urged cadres to do more to address the grievances of ordinary Chinese while strengthening controls on society in order to maintain "harmony and stability".

Li Heping, a lawyer in Beijing who has defended dissidents, said that he and a colleague had been stopped from flying to Japan to attend a meeting – the fifth time since 2008 that he was blocked by border officers from going abroad.

"The atmosphere is relatively tense now, because of the events in north Africa," Mr Li told the Reuters news agency, "They're afraid of all these calls for human rights and freedom spreading in China."

http://business.financialpost.com/20...protest-calls/

LinkedIn access in China disrupted amid protest calls


David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Many users in China were unable to access LinkedIn, which is planning an initial public offering set to raise up to US$175-million.

Reuters
February 24, 2011 – 11:18 am
By Chris Buckley

BEIJING — Access to the professional networking site LinkedIn was disrupted in China on Thursday, following online calls on other sites for gatherings inspired by protests against authoritarian regimes across the Middle East.

Many users in China were unable to access LinkedIn, which is planning an initial public offering set to raise up to US$175-million.

LinkedIn could be accessed as recently as Thursday morning, according to two regular users, one a Reuters employee and the other a business consultant, who declined to be identified.

Some users who later found they could not access it via the Chinese Internet said the site was however accessible via routes outside the reach of Chinese censors.

LinkedIn, with its relatively small user base of adult professionals, has been accessible in China through the local Internet service, unlike Facebook and other social websites with much larger numbers of users.

ANXIETY

The news of the disruption coincided with a rash of detentions and tighter censorship in recent days, underscoring the government’s anxiety in the face of calls for “Jasmine Revolution” protests — pro-democracy gatherings inspired by unrest in the Middle East.

If the disruption for LinkedIn is permanent in China, it could hurt the company’s prospects at an IPO as a ban would exclude the company from the world’s largest Internet market — about 450 million users and growing.

“It certainly would be a negative in terms of the company’s future growth and profitability,” said Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida.

“This is something where investors would take it into account and be willing to pay a little lower price per share.”

LinkedIn Corp, which filed last month to raise up to US$175-million in an IPO either on the Nasdaq or the New York stock exchange, was not immediately available for comment.

The Chinese Communist Party worries that the Internet could become a conduit for images and ideas that could challenge its one-party rule.

China already blocks a number of popular websites, including other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and Google’s YouTube.

LinkedIn, which runs a networking site geared towards professionals and boasts 90 million users, was the first social networking company to start the process of becoming publicly traded.

China has tussled with foreign Internet companies before, including a high-profile dispute with Google. After a months-long stand-off over censorship, China finally gave the company approval last July to keep operating its Chinese search page.

LinkedIn’s investors include Greylock Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm that has backed Yahoo Inc, Google, Apple Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Oracle Corp.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

there is nothing to be cherish by the Euro-model.

oh yes there is ,

freedom of speech and human rights to name two obvious examples

flawed they may be BUT infinitely preferable to the Asian model.

^Appearances can be deceptive!

^

off you toddle to Burma then

don't like that idea ?

how about North Korea ?

http://chrdnet.org/2011/02/25/a-quie...-recent-years/

A Quiet Crackdown, Yet Likely the Harshest in Recent Years

Five Confirmed Criminally Detained in China

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, February 25, 2011) Only a few days after police began targeting human rights defenders across the country in response to anonymous calls for “Jasmine Revolution” protests, signs are emerging to indicate that the current crackdown may be one of the most severe actions taken by the government against Chinese activists in recent years. CHRD has now confirmed five reports of individuals being criminally detained on “endangering state security” charges, including “subversion of state power” and “inciting subversion of state power,” as well as one report of an individual being administratively detained.

CHRD has now confirmed the criminal detentions of Ran Yunfei (冉云飞) and Ding Mao (丁矛), of Sichuan Province; Hua Chunhui (华春晖), of Jiangsu Province; and Liang Haiyi (梁海怡), of Guangdong Province. Together with CHRD’s earlier report of Sichuan activist Chen Wei (陈卫), a total of five activists have been criminally detained in relation to the online call for protests. Additionally, one lawyer was brutally beaten and eight individuals have had their residences raided and property confiscated by police. More than one hundred have been subjected to police summons, interrogation, soft detention, involuntary disappearance, or some other forms of restrictions on their movements.

“The numbers point to a bad situation that is only getting worse,” said Renee Xia, CHRD’s International Director. “In the matter of a few days, we have seen more cases of prominent lawyers subjected to prolonged disappearances, more criminal charges that may carry lengthy prison sentences for activists, more home raids, and a heavier reliance on extralegal measures than we saw during the duration of similar recent actions, like those after the release of Charter 08 or prior to the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony.”

The ongoing crackdown is not limited to rights activists and dissidents. Police are also casting a wide net in pursuit of netizens who they suspect to have posted or relayed messages online about the call for “Jasmine Revolution” protests. Yuan Feng (袁峰), a young migrant worker from Henan Province living in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, was given 10 days of administrative detention by police on February 22. Police accused Yuan of “using a false ID to surf the internet” and posting information about the “Jasmine Revolution” on QQ. Yuan is currently being held in the Shantou City Detention House.

Most worrying, however, is the fact that at least five individuals have been criminally detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” or “subversion of state power” in the past five days, charges that have been used to impose jail sentences of up to a decade or longer in recent years. With more reports (which CHRD are yet to independently verify) on Twitter and other online media of human rights defenders being taken into police custody, disappeared, or put under soft detention, it appears as though the number of activists targeted may be the largest of any such sweep in the past five years.

Below is some brief information regarding the five detained individuals whose cases have been confirmed by CHRD:

• Ran Yunfei (冉云飞),46, a writer, blogger, and activist, was criminally detained for “subversion of state power” on February 24, according to a formal detention notice received by his wife. Ran, a member of the ethnic Tu minority who studied Chinese literature at Sichuan University, is an employee of the magazine Sichuan Literature and a resident of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. He is a prolific writer of social and political commentary. He blogs at <匪è¯�连篇> and his Twitter account, [at]ranyunfei, has more than 44,000 followers. Ran has been in police detention since the morning of February 20, when he was summoned to “tea.” Officers later searched his home and confiscated his computer.
• Hua Chunhui (华春晖), 47, is a Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province-based netizen, activist, and mid-level manager at an insurance company. He was seized by police on February 21 and criminally detained on suspicion of “endangering state security,”[i] according to a notice issued by police at the Tanduqiao station in Wuxi’s Nanchang District. Hua, using the Twitter account [at]wxhch64, has tweeted messages about the “Jasmine Revolution.” Hua and his fiancée Wang Yi (王译) have been active in civil society initiatives in recent years; for example, the couple organized a forum in Beijing in May 2010 to discuss the demonstrations outside of the Fuzhou City trial of three activists for posting information online. Wang Yi (whose given name is Cheng Jianping) was sent to one year of Re-education through Labor in November 2010 for a tweet she posted during violent anti-Japan demonstrations in October 2010.
• Liang Haiyi (梁海怡, penname “Miaoxiao [渺小]), originally from Guangdong Province, was taken in for questioning on February 19 by police in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, along with her ex-husband. Her ex-husband was later released, but Liang remained in police custody. According to Liang Xiaojun (梁小军), a lawyer retained by her family, Liang Haiyi was criminally detained on suspicion of “subversion of state power” on February 21. Police accused Liang Haiyi of “posting information from foreign websites regarding ‘Jasmine Revolution’ actions on domestic websites” such as QQ, the popular Chinese social networking site. She is being held at the Harbin City Number Two Detention Center.
• Ding Mao (丁矛), 45, was seized from his home on February 19 and then criminally detained on the same day by police in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” As a philosophy student at Lanzhou University in the late 1980s, Ding became a student leader during the 1989 pro-democracy protests. He was twice imprisoned for his activism, first in 1989 and again in 1992 when he was arrested for organizing the Social Democratic Party. He spent a total of 10 years in jail. He is currently the general manager of an investment company in Mianyang.
• Chen Wei (陈卫), 42, a rights activist based in Suining City, Sichuan Province, has been criminally detained for “inciting subversion of state power,” according to a formal detention notice released by the Suining City Public Security Bureau on the evening of February 21. Chen had been missing since police called him for “tea” on the morning of February 20. Officers and security guards later searched his home, confiscating a computer, two hard drives and a USB drive. He is currently being held at the Suining City Detention Center. Chen was a 1989 Tiananmen student protester when he was studying at the Beijing Institute of Technology, majoring in mechanical engineering. He was imprisoned in Qincheng prison and released in January 1991. In May 1992, Chen was again arrested for commemorating June 4 and organizing a political party, and was sentenced to five years in prison. In the past several years, Chen has emerged as a leader in organizing human rights actions in Sichuan.

Many fear that criminal detention or worse may be the fate of those currently in police custody. Among those at risk are four high-profile rights defenders—lawyers Tang Jitian (唐吉田), Jiang Tianyong (江天勇), Teng Biao (滕彪), and activist Gu Chuan (古川)—who have been held incommunicado for between five and eight days. Concern for the four grows by the day as police refuse to divulge any information about their whereabouts or formally acknowledge their detentions. Past experiences have shown that the longer such individuals are held by police without formal acknowledgment, the greater the risks are that they may be subjected to torture to extract confessions.

Finally, as CHRD previously reported, Liu Shihui (刘士辉), a lawyer in Guangzhou, was brutally beaten and seriously injured on February 20 while he waited for a bus to People’s Park, one of the locations designated by the online posting for the “Jasmine Revolution” protest.

The Chinese government should immediately release all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained in relation to the “Jasmine Revolution” protests.

The Chinese government should hold criminally accountable police officers who use extralegal measures, such as beatings and enforced disappearance, to intimidate and harass activists and dissidents. These actions violate Chinese law, the Chinese Constitution, and international human rights conventions.

CHRD continues to urge the international community, particularly the U.S. government, the E.U., and others with diplomatic presence in China, to inquire into these detentions and disappearances.

CHRD calls once again on the U.N. Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to take urgent action and send communiqués to the Chinese government regarding these cases.

“While the attention of the world is fixed upon the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, the Chinese government may believe it has been presented a golden opportunity to strike hard at Chinese pro-democracy and human rights activists. The international community should not let this go on,” said Xia. “President Obama, U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, and E.U. leaders should send the Chinese government a strong and clear message: suppression of free expression and peaceful protests is unacceptable, whether people are gathering in the Middle East or in China.”

Media Contacts

Renee Xia, International Director (English and Mandarin), +852 8191 6937 or +1 240 374 8937
Wang Songlian, Research Coordinator (English and Mandarin), +852 8191 1660
David Smalls, Researcher (English), +1 347 448 5285

For more information, please see:

“CHRD Condemns Preemptive Strike against Protests,” February 21, 2011,http://chrdnet.org/2011/02/21/chrd-c...inst-protests/

“Chinese Police Must End Enforced Disappearances of Human Rights Activists,” February 18, 2011, http://chrdnet.org/2011/02/18/chines...hts-activists/

[i] “Endangering state security” is a term used to describe a range of crimes stipulated between Articles 102 and 113 of China’s Criminal Law. CHRD has so far been unable to confirm precisely the article under which Hua is being detained.

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

^Appearances can be deceptive!

Yep. Even dangerous when you don't have the ability to recognize them.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/49270/...e-on-protests/

China uses whistles, water, police on protests

By AP News Feb 28, 2011 11:44AM UTC

SHANGHAI (AP) — Large numbers of police — and new tactics like shrill whistles and street cleaning trucks — squelched overt protests in China for a second Sunday in a row after more calls came for peaceful gatherings modeled on recent democratic movements in the Middle East.

(Click the link to see the full piece)

It's been on the English news from HK, unfortunately I don't really pay enough attention to the local news since its only on in Cantonese, but I believe I did see some footage from protests in Beijing.

The people in Hong Kong, who are still mourning Szeto Wah (Uncle Wah) have been on the news saying how they wish the movement would pick up steam. Wouldn't be surprised if there were some new immigration regulations for both Macau and HK residents if this picks up any more steam.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/wo...obal&seid=auto


System Stifles Call for Change in China

By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: March 1, 2011

BEIJING — Chinese police, citing newly enacted restrictions on journalists, have moved to forcefully prevent foreign reporters from covering public protests that have been largely nonexistent, establishing “no reporting” zones in Shanghai and Beijing and, in one case, beating a videographer and injuring two other reporters.



(read more at the link, long post)