Security forces have arrested a group of people accused of fomenting protests and of spreading "rumors" on the internet. They include the boyfriend of the 22 year-old Yuan Liya. For many commentators, the girl was thrown from the upper floors of the mall, after a gang rape.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Chinese authorities have arrested 13 people accused of having circulated posts and comments on the Internet stirring up a (rare) protest in Beijing. At the origin of the event, the story of a young migrant worker who died in a mall where she worked under mysterious circumstances. The story emphasizes, however, the tense situation between government officials and migrant workers, an explosive mixture that threatens to turn into a real social conflict all over the Land of the Dragon.

Those arrested include her boyfriend. The death of 22 year-old Yuan Liya, - in unusual and mysterious - prompted a protest on 8 May which lasted several hours and which involved hundreds of people.

The Public Security Bureau of Beijing Municipality maintains the girl committed suicide on May 3 last, and thus there is no need for an investigation. In contrast, the protesters claim she was killed and now are demanding justice.

The arrests follow a few weeks after the announcement of web security officials, in which they threatened to clamp down on "rumors on the internet", which is why the authorities have closed or blocked sites and pages activists or prominent dissidents. According to police, the "suicide" victim's boyfriend is "spreading [false] news about the girl's mysterious death" and has encouraged people - mostly migrants from the same province as the girl - to join in protests. Other commentators have posted comments claiming that the girl was thrown from the upper floors of the building, after having suffered a gang rape.

Yuan Liya, a 22 year-old migrant from Anhui, worked as a sales assistant in a shopping mall in the capital: on May 3, she was found dead, but her colleagues deny that she may have committed suicide. Police officers at first denied everything, saying that "there are no signs that it may be a suspicious death." The Town Hall published a post on the internet to say that "there are no signs of poisoning, sexual assault or murder: she jumped by herself," and added that "her family agrees  with us." But colleagues of Yuan do not believe in this version and started a peaceful demonstration to demand the truth.

Public protests are increasing in the country, with tens of thousands of social demonstrations each year. Communist Party officials have repeatedly admitted that social instability - which arises from economic instability and corruption of leadership - is a "serious threat to the survival" of the power system.

 

• china
• society
• migrants
• suicide
• protest
• demonstrations
• strikes
• yuan
• liya