When there is no place to turn for justice sometimes all you can do is riot. Some say that “several thousand people” participated:
Thousands of people in east China’s Shandong province rioted last week, storming a government building and smashing equipment after an official vehicle ran over and killed a vendor, a human rights group and residents said.
The riot — one of the largest in recent years — occurred on October 28, a day after a confrontation between officials and a man selling fresh pancakes from a roving stove-wagon in Zhoucheng city.
On October 27, the vendor, surnamed Shao, was selling the popular egg and onion pancakes when some employees from the “city management” department confiscated his wagon and loaded it onto their vehicle, sources said.
Shao — seeing his source of livelihood being carted away — blocked the vehicle’s path. He was run over as a crowd watched, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.
The next day, several thousand people stormed the city’s communist party government offices, breaking through a police line of some 800 officers, residents and the Center said.
200 people were arrested, the police claiming, of course, that they had “ulterior motives.”
1
By hnjjz
I love how the officials try to cover the incident up by claiming that it was a riot of “only several dozen people”. How can you have a riot with several dozen people? Let’s see if this thing gets wider attention and if the Hu/Wen government is really serious about all the things they’ve said about protecting the people’s rights.
November 3, 2003 @ 9:24 pm | Comment
2
By Radio Free China
Thanks for publishing this article. I see a kindred spirit for freedom and liberty in your posts. I have heard little of this in the mainstream press.
I have added your rss feed to my news sources and will be using your posts. I have placed a link to your excellent site as well as prcnews on mine.
Brother Barnabas
November 4, 2003 @ 5:42 pm | Comment
3
By richard
I appreciate it; I just visited your site for the first time, and it’s great!
November 4, 2003 @ 11:36 pm | Comment