A blogger in China offers a report that police in Chengdu, fearing that public wrath may turn around and strike at the Party, are cracking down forcefully on the demonstrators:
It seems that on Saturday evening around 6:00pm a crowd of university students began to gather outside of the same Ito Yokado department store they demonstrated against last weekend on April 3rd. This time however, police were ready for them and according to my friends, police used their batons to beat several of the students that were apprehended while trying to smash the store windows. Wang Li said that he wasn’t sure how many students were involved in Saturdays incident because the area is a huge shopping square and there are always large crowds in the area, but he did note that there were more than 10 police wagons at the scene.
Of course this is second-hand information, but it’s also from two Chinese eyewitnesses that don’t particularly care for the Japanese either.
It would seem that the Chinese government has decided that enough is enough and as a result, they are trying to calm things down before it gets out of control. They definitely wouldn’t want this anger turning inward towards the party.
They definitely wouldn’t. I think maybe the protests have served their usefulness (in the party’s eyes) and now it’s time to call it a day. We’ll see.
1
By garnwraly
Can they spell “manipulate”?
April 11, 2005 @ 3:28 am | Comment
2
By Forster
there is really no pleasing you guys 🙂
if the authorities don’t crack down, they are fanning the emotions blah blah…
now they are manipulating.
really, can you spell “bias”? LOL
April 11, 2005 @ 6:56 am | Comment
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By richard
That’s simplistic, Omega. The government has given the Japan-bashing the wink-and-the-nod for years, leaving it off their list of topics to crack down on . They allowed this to happen and, as the article below states, certainly were accommodating to the demonstrators, police even helping them throw their eggs. You say “there’s no pleasing you guys” but I don’t think that’s accurate. On my side, I’d have been pleased if the government had sought to discourage the blind rage as opposed to quietly fanning it. (And sometimes not so quielty.)
April 11, 2005 @ 7:30 am | Comment
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By Forster
so are you saying that the chinese and koreans have no cause to be angry?
April 11, 2005 @ 10:10 am | Comment
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By richard
Forster, don’t ask dumb questions like that without going through this blog a bit. I have ALWAYS said the Chinese have a right to be more than angry, as do the Koreans and many others. The Japanese stance is inexcusable. Go back and read some of the posts and comments on this topic that preceded this post, then come back and ask your question. The issue of Japan’s arrogant refusal to apologize and take full responsibility is a matter of fact, beyond dispute. The issue is not whether there should be anger, but about how that anger is channelled so that it doesn’t hurt the Chinese themselves. Do you think blind rage and throwing eggs or bricks at all things Japanese is a wise and strategic long-term solution?
April 11, 2005 @ 10:26 am | Comment
6
By Hui Mao
Here’s a report on a major protest and rioting in Zhejiang province over an environmental issue.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-china-riot.html
It mentions that in 2003, there were 58,000 protests in China by official count (which is likely a gross under-count since officials tend to hide news of such protests from their superiors).
April 11, 2005 @ 12:47 pm | Comment
7
By richard
It also said the many demonstrations were quickly quelled by the government. Of course.
April 11, 2005 @ 1:12 pm | Comment
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By Hui Mao
Sure, many were quelled quickly but many were allowed to go on for days, weeks, or months like the specific protest mentioned in the article and the recent protests over several dam building projects. I just wanted to point out that if a demonstration happens without the CCP sending in PLA tanks, it doesn’t automatically mean the CCP is behind it.
April 11, 2005 @ 3:55 pm | Comment
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By lisa
I think I mentioned on another thread – and Hui Mao commented – that there are a lot more small demonstrations going on than we generally hear about – a Frontline doc from two years ago (CHINA IN THE RED) covered problems in China’s “rust belt,” I think it was in Shenyang – and there were a lot of small protests from unemployed workers or retirees seeking their pensions. And though the cops didn’t want to let the crew film it, they seemed pretty lackidaisical about the whole thing. It took a while for these labor protests to build to a point where the authorities finally cracked down on it and arrested some of the leaders. Forgive my broad generalities here, maybe Hui Mao knows the specifics?
April 11, 2005 @ 4:13 pm | Comment
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By Hui Mao
Lisa,
Labor protests by laid-off workers from bankrupt state owned enterprises are just too numerous to keep track of, so I don’t really know about the specific protest that you mentioned. These protests have become common place enough that they are pretty much the accepted way to negotiate for a better deal on pensions, severance benefits, etc. Most of the time, these protests end peacefully, either because the government gave an acceptable deal or because the protesters are too exhausted to continue. Police crack downs and arrests usually happen in the cases where worker demands and government offers are so far apart that protests continues for a long period of time after the government has given the best possible deal that it’s willing to give.
April 11, 2005 @ 5:59 pm | Comment
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By Forster
richard, perhaps you can suggest better and effective channelling of the anger.
the way i see it is that when china veto japan’s attempt for a seat on the security council at least the world can see that the ccp has support of the chinese.
as for demonstrations in china, i have seen people picketing outside the mayor’s office in guangzhou for days.
April 12, 2005 @ 12:40 am | Comment
12
By Thomas
“the way i see it is that when china veto japan’s attempt for a seat on the security council at least the world can see that the ccp has support of the chinese.”
Um…and since when has a vote or veto by one of the five permanent members of the security council proven what the citizens of that country think?
April 12, 2005 @ 4:55 am | Comment