Tangshan protest
The Tangshan Protest ( Chinese 唐山 反 政府 ) refers to the protest of farmers in Tangshan City , Hebei Province , who stood up against local officials and tried to petition for corruption , embezzlement and abuse .
In the 1990s, around 41,000 farmers in Tangshan were relocated to build the Taolinkou Reservoir , but the compensation costs incurred were not paid. In March 2004, a group of farmers filed a petition with around 12,000 signatures at the National People's Congress in Beijing , asking the government for help and calling for the removal of Tangshan's Mayor Zhang He, who had received about 60 million yuan in compensation . 8 million euros) is said to have embezzled. The petition was also in response to years of mistreatment, harassment, and corruption by local officials against previous petitioners, accusing them of belonging to the persecuted Falun Gong movement in China .
Despite the official right to petition in China , over 100 of these petitioners and supporters have been arrested and ill-treated.
Important personalities
Zhang Youren , a leader in organizing the petition, was ill-treated by the police and arrested on July 6, 2004. During the day, police officers reportedly abducted him early in the morning and mistreated his wife and child and brought him to the local police station after they did not cooperate with the officers. It is believed that the arrest was linked to former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao , who was planning to visit Tangshan the following day. Zhang Youren and some farmers had intended to bring their concern to Wen Jiabao, and that was supposed to be stopped.
Zhào Yán , who worked as a journalist for the Chinese magazine China Reform , reported on the mistreatment of the petitioners and advised them. He was released and arrested. Shortly before he was arrested, Zhao Yan went on a hunger strike along with Yu Meisun, a famous Beijing lawyer, for the release of Zhang Youren.
Individual evidence
- ^ The dam, the petition, the lawyer and his diary , Probe International, March 11, 2004, accessed October 30, 2016
- ↑ China: arbitrary detention of farmers' group leader, Zhang Youren , OMCT, July 12, 2004, accessed November 7, 2016
- ↑ a b Chinese Police Harass Journalist Who Covered Tangshan Protest , Radio Free China, July 14, 2004, accessed October 30, 2016
- ↑ Tangshan Peasant Protest Leader Detained in Advance of Wen Visit , Human Rights in China, July 6, 2004, accessed October 30, 2016
- ↑ a b Media Summary: China's Detention of New York Times Researcher Zhao Yan , October 21, 2004, accessed November 2, 2016