Chinese Petitioners' Pleas Stifled in Beijing
2010-03-09 11:51



Last Friday, the Chinese communist regime began its annual plenary session
of the National Peoples Congress.

At the meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao said the regime would, give particular
attention to protecting the publics legal rights, according to state-run
Xinhua news.

But for petitioners whove gathered in Beijing to plea their legal woes,
those words may seem far removed from reality.

Hoping to reach the thousands of delegates attending the plenary session,
many petitioners have resorted to sending letters personally addressed to
high ranking officials, like Wen Jiabao.

Some petitioners say these letters will never be read.

[Petitioner, Beijing]:
The mailboxes are so full that you cant put anything in, theyre too full.
The petitioners all hope the letters can reach the two meetings and all try
to send their letters. But the officials wont even read them. An old man who
collects rubbish at Zhongnanhai said the letters are stuffed in bags and
burned.

Petitioners in Beijing are also targets of security forces dispatched
throughout the city.

Former military engineer Wang Yun-dong from Lanzhou in central Gansu
Province has been petitioning for 11 years. He says Beijing authorities have
mobilized many officers to deal with petitioners.

[Wang Yun-dong, Lanzhou Petitioner]:
There are ten times more officers intercepting petitioners than the number
of petitioners at the Peoples Liberation Armys political headquarters. For
each petitioner, there are 10 officers. We had a few dozen petitioners here
today, but inside there were hundreds of officers intercepting.

Other petitioners say they have teamed up to fight against the security
officers.

[Petitioner, Beijing]:
Today we fought off three groups of officers. All we want is: down with
corruption, down with greedy officials and to have our human rights.



--
Amnesty International Report 2009 on China:
http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/china