Social Stability - 176. page

Over 10,000 people gathered in front of the local police station and government buildings in Weng’an County in southwest Guizhou province Saturday, June 28, to vent anger towards the local government’s cover up of an alleged rape and murder of a female student. Angry crowd torched the police station, county government building, and Civil Affairs Bureau building. 1500 anti-riot police arrived on Sunday morning and used tear gas and high voltage baton at the scene. It was reported that at least three people died, 200 people arrested including 30 middle school students, and 150 injured.

The victim, Li Shufen, was a student from Weng’an County No. 3 High School. She was found dead in a river around midnight on June 21. After the reports from the medical examiner concluding the death as “suicide,” Li’s uncle went to the county party committee to appeal but was beaten to death. Three suspects were said to be connected to the local government authority and were released within 8 hours.

Source: The Epoch Times, June 30, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/6/30/n2173202.htm

120,000 residents in Qingchuan County, Sichuan, have lost means of livelihood during the May 12 earthquake, said Qingchuan County official. At the press conference of the Sichuan government, Li Haozheng, Communist Party Secretary for Qingchuan said only 5% of the buildings might be used after reinforcement and 140,000 mu of farmland were destroyed. Victims have no land to farm or foundation to re-build houses or roads to travel, as Li put it. 

Source: Xinhua, June 25, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-06/25/content_8438575.htm

Citizen Supervising Political Affairs Society Of China published a news release stating that they have collected signatures on a petition from 11,259 citizens in China. The petition was to question Chinese regime’s responsibilities in handling the earth quake warnings and the safety of the building structures. It calls for protection of citizen’s rights in supervising the government, investigate and take legal actions against those who shall be held responsible.

Source: Gong Ming Jian Zhen (Citizen Supervising Political Affairs Society Of China), June 16, 2008
http://www.gmjz.org/X-Space/html/69/t-3969.html

China’s distinguished writer Yu Qiuyu wrote an article titled “advice to the students’ parents with tears,” asking the parents who lost their children in the earthquake to quit petitioning so as not to be used by overseas anti-China forces. Following the earthquake, lots of attention have been focused on demanding an investigation of the substandard construction of schools. Yu says in his article that the students’ parents are very emotional. Therefore, those media that could not find anti-China excuses started once again anti-China propaganda. The article caused an up-roar among the Internet users who felt it inappropriate. However, China’s Information Office of the State Council required major websites to post the article, while deleting related discussion massages.

Source: BBC, June 8, 2008; Boxun, June 7, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7440000/newsid_7443100/7443157.stm http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/06/200806072039.shtml

Two lawyers in China were denied the renewal of their licenses during the 2008 annual registration.  Local lawyers who passed the annual registration described the reasons behind the mandatary annual registration.  "The government is afraid of lawyers.  It is a very unique feature that in China, the authorities must have a mechanism to counter the role that lawyers play. … The more one complies with the law, speaks the truth and upholds justice, the less likely you will have your license renewed."

Source: Epoch Times, June 1, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/6/1/n2138386.htm

BBC quotes Human Rights Watch’s report that the Chinese authorities refused to renew the licenses for two Chinese prominent human rights lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong. The reason is that they offered help for the Tibetans arrested during the 3.14 Event. Teng Biao was the lawyer for Shandong human rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Jiang Tianyong was involved in famous rights activist Hu Jia’s case. Early in April, the Ministry of Justice already threatened that those who expressed to help to Tibetans would be diciplined and have their licenses withheld.

Source: BBC, May 30, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7420000/newsid_7427900/7427943.stm

Wang Lowei, an expert on water at a German Engineering firm, stated that the construction of Zipingpu Reservoir might have caused the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.  Similar views have been posted online inside China.  Zipingpu Reservoir was built right on top of the Longmenshan Fault. Completed in 2006, Zipingpu Reservoir is one of the larger reservoirs, with a storage capacity of 1.112 billion cubic meters.

Source:
Observe China, May 28, 2008
http://observechina.net/info/artShow.asp?id=49497
Internet Posting, People.com, May 28, 2008
http://bbs.people.com.cn/postDetail.do?view=2&pageNo=1&treeView=1&id=86446095&boardId=2

Study Times, the journal of the Party School of the Communist Party reported that from 1990 to 2004, schools in 90 counties were damaged during earthquakes. In 2003 alone, over 420,000 students could not attended classes due to damages to schools. Study Times cited most recent examples including over 700 students in Juyuan middle school in Dujiangyan City who were buried and died during the Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. The article attributed these casualties to dangerous school buildings.

Source: Study Times, May 21, 2008
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/49154/49156/7272568.html