Explosions in Shenzhen and activists beaten to death in Shazui, China’s deteriorating social order
For the authorities, social stability must be enforced by tackling unrest at its source. Luo Gan, one of nine members of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, urged judicial authorities to attack social disturbances at their roots.
Mr Luo, a party hardliner from the times when Jiang Zemin was in power, has been accused several times of torture and genocide, especially by the Falun Gong.
Shandong province is one of the provinces most affected by social protest like that of Chen Guangcheng, an activist who reported forced abortions by public officials and who was jailed after trial marred by accusations of intimidation against witnesses and lawyers.
Increasingly, the government is unable to stop growing social unrest despite the use of force and is failing to tackle crime in the big cities.
In Shenzhen, the hub of
On Sunday one explosive device went off in Baoan district injuring a 13-year-old boy who was playing in the street.
It follows last Wednesday’s explosion in Shazui, Futian district, which killed two children, five and eight, injuring a nine-year-old. The device looked like a hand grenade and the doctor treating the injured child said he found bomb fragments in the boy’s body.
Police in both cases were willing to say more than that the devices involved were “unidentified objects” and that they believed they were not "deliberate acts".
Residents however do not accept the idea of an accident saying that a month ago hundreds of prostitutes and their clients were publicly paraded by the police as part of a crackdown on vice. In their view the “incident” was a show of defiance by local triads against the recent police crackdown. In 2003, triads tried to bomb a police patrol in Baoan following a similar crackdown.
Meanwhile the authorities are cracking down on social unrest at the source, going so far as using violence to stop people from presenting petitions. Duan Huiming, a 48-year activist, found this out the hard way. He died on January
Mr Duan and other activists were stopped by government officials near the Nong Ji Guest House at Qian Men in
“There were 12 officials beating up just one person (Huiming). They bashed him and kicked him with their shoes. He was beaten so badly that he was bleeding in the brain and from other organs,”
His sister Duan Chunfang was also beaten and suffered injuries to the face.
Many petitioners present at the scene all confirm that throughout the incident, Section Chief Gao Weiguo and over 50 other Shanghai Municipal officials, policemen and special policemen watched the beating without intervening.
Bleeding and unable to walk, Duan Huiming was put on Train N.1461 for
The next day, December 4, he was sentenced to one year in a labour camp and shipped off. But on December 28, he collapsed in the camp. Unconscious he was taken to Shanghai Ti Lan Qiao Hospital in critical conditions.
Three days later, policemen forcibly moved Duan Huiming from the hospital to the Waitan Police Substation. Here, he refused the police offer to be taken home concerned they might be trying to evade their responsibilities. He was promptly beaten up again, driven away and dumped in front of his sister’s house. In the afternoon of January 1, Duan was taken to
“The physical exam by the hospital showed that all bodily indicators were below par,” his sister Dun Chunfang said. “Doctors diagnosed that external force caused his chest blood vessels to be broken and bleeding severely; there was severe bleeding of the upper alimentary canal, critical chest injuries and bleeding on his back and kidney. A CT exam also showed that blood blocked the inside of his brain.”
He was declared dead in the afternoon of January
His family has refused to sign the release for the body to be cremated; instead they have requested an autopsy to be performed to determine the true cause of death. (PB)
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18/02/2020 10:04
