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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Crackdown to stop pro-democracy rallies in China




FEARFUL THE wave of change sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East could undermine the position of the Communist Party, Chinese security forces took to the streets of 13 major cities yesterday to squash any displays of dissent after a mysterious online call for a “Jasmine Revolution”, inspired by pro-democracy demonstrations elsewhere.

The original online posting on the US-based Boxun website, which has since been blocked, consisted of a list of grievances about contemporary China.

It listed food-safety problems, laid off workers, corruption by officials and their children, the treatment of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, brutality against petitioners and those forced to move homes because of real estate development.

“In 1989, June 4th was an attempt to readjust society in a just way to recover the dream, but it failed, and it would be much more difficult to have another try now,” said a computer expert. “This government is waiting for the old generation who remember Mao Zedong to die, and then they can do what they like.” More at Irish Times

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