Violence against student protest continues 18 years after Tiananmen
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – After 18 years, Beijing responds once more to student protest with violence. It happened again in Henan where students protested after city inspectors assaulted a female student. Meanwhile in Chengdu (Sichuan) a classified advertisement salutes the mothers of Tiananmen crackdown victims to the embarrassment of the government.
Page 14 of the June 4 issue of the Chengdu Evening News ran a paid advert that read "Salute to the adamant mothers of the June 4 victims". On June 4, 1989 the army shot at students protesting against corruption and demanding freedom and democracy, killing thousands. Banned from history books, media and the internet, even simply mentioning the event can land one in trouble. The advert, which was read and discussed throughout the region, left the government very embarrassed.
Local sources said that Li Shaojun, executive deputy editor-in-chief of the Chengdu Evening News, was suspended because he was on duty on June 3 and let the notice stay in. The paper stopped its partnership with the advertising company that took the advert and two other members of the tabloid's editorial office are said to have been sacked.
The advertising agency explained that one of its young female clerk accepted the notice from a client without knowing what June 4 meant. When she phoned the client to ask what the date meant she was told that it was the date of a mining disaster.
Two other Chengdu newspapers received the same advert but refused to print it.
Unlike 1989 students today are no longer shot and killed, but can still run foul of the police. On Wednesday city inspectors assaulted a female student who was selling fashion accessories on a street in Zhengzhou (Henan) to pay for her studies, knocking out some of her teeth.
Students from several universities poured onto the street when inspectors were still beating her and started protesting for the uncalled for violence.
The crowd was further angered when police officers let the city inspectors go because "they said it was nothing very serious".
Riot police and patrol officers that had been called in to deal with the swelling student numbers battled for hours protesters whose ranks topped a thousand, beating them with batons.
Some students damaged police cars and set fire to a city inspector's car, but no injuries were reported among law enforcement.
Witnesses said that up to five students were taken by police after protesters dispersed.
The Zhengzhou government released a statement on its official news website saying that one city inspector and five patrol officers had been detained as a result of the "conflict". Two city inspectors have been sacked and four others disciplined.
City inspectors were introduced in the 1990s to carry out operations such as clearing unlicensed vendors. But they have gained notoriety for their violent treatment of the vendors.
The Hainan Daily reported yesterday that a fruit vendor in Haikou was in a coma after eight city inspectors beat him on Wednesday.
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