Social Stability - 173. page

At 11 a.m. on August 6, a Route 205 bus reportedly exploded at the gate of Qinghua University. Three passengers suffered injuries. At 4:30 p.m. on the same day, a Route 10 bus exploded at Naoshikou Street near Changan Street, a famous street in Beijing that runs through Tiananmen Square.

Per photos taken by eye witness citizens, white powder was scatted everywhere. A middle aged woman suffered from a broken leg. Other injuries were not clear.

Source: EpochTimes.com, August 7, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/8/7/n2220344.htm

Boxun posted a group of photos from Beijing.

One photo of a poster contains warnings to residents of the 7th district living in the apartment complex of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The photo caption states that the 7th district apartment complex is located across the street from Beijing’s National Stadium [Bird’s Nest]. Through the east side windows, residents will be able to observe the VIPs pass as they enter the stadium.  The poster reads: “On August 2, 5, 8, 24, residents in the 7th district must bring your photo ID with you. For residents with windows on the east side of the building, do not open the windows. Stay away from those windows to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Another photo displayed an Olympic designated traffic lane.  It took space from the regular traffic which has been ordered to be reduced to half of the regular volume. Traffic violators will be imposed with a warning and fines.

Source: Boxun, August, 5, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/08/200808050609.shtml

Based on a BBC report, on Monday August 4, about 20 citizens who live near Tiananmen held a protest. They are unhappy about the unfair relocation compensation from government-backed developers.

One person said: the developer has no right to seize their properties because of the Olympics, and the citizens should not give up their rights for the Olympics.

The protesters were arrested quickly by the police.

Source:  Chine News Digest, August 5, 2008
http://www.cnd.org/my/modules/wfsection/article.php%3Farticleid=20243

Villages, towns and cities in areas surrounding Beijing recently experienced frequent power outages. Before the 1980’s, the government used to shut off the electricity of nearby cities when major events took place in the capital. But the practice was all but abandoned in recent years, until now.

Rural areas were hit first and for the longest amount of time, followed by low income urban areas, high income districts were next, and government offices were the last to face the outage.

One city in Shandong Province experienced a power outage every other day, each lasting 10 hours.

Source: Boxun, July 31, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/07/200807310509.shtml

Despite the promise to allow people to demonstrate in three parks during the Beijing Olympics, last week, the authorities arrested a woman who tried to demonstrate in one of the designated demonstration areas. The woman was detained and sent back to her hometown Suzhou on Friday August 1. Some anti-Japanese activists also saw their application denied.

People are skeptical and do not trust the government’s promise to allow freedom of speech. Beijing based journalist Ling Cangzhou said: “Everyone knows that in China, freedom and democracy are written in the Constitution. But how much can the Constitution be enforced is in question.”

Source: Voice of America, August 3, 2008
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2008-08-03-voa30.cfm

Liu Shaokun, a teacher who lost his child in the earthquake from Deyang City of Sichuan Province, was arrested by the authorities on June 25 and sentenced to one-year labor camp thereafter. His “crime” is "suspicion of inciting subversion of state power." After the May 12th Sichuan earthquake, he took pictures of the collapsed school buildings and posted them on the Internet. He also expressed his angry feelings about the sub-standard shoddy school construction when talking to media reporters.

Source: Voice of America, July 30,2008
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2008-07-30-voa68.cfm

Oriental Daily (HK) reports on July 31, 2008: As the Olympics approache, Beijing has heightened its security levels. Police and check points are everywhere on the street. From July 30, all the visitors entering Tiananmen Square will have to go through a security check.

Source: Oriental Daily, July 31, 2008
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/

On July 28, one day before the Olympic torch arrived at Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, a fire broke out in a textile factory. It was reported as the largest fire in the city’s history and took six hours to put out. The estimated damage is reported as high as 10 million yuan.

the Hong Kong based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy disclosed that there are over 200 workers who were either laid off or had retired from this factory. There have been past conflicts between them and the local government. As such, there is the possibilty that the incident was arson. The press office of the Shijiazhuang Municipal government blamed the fire on short circuits and said no one was injured.

Source: Ming Pao News, July 30, 2008
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080730/caa2.htm