Chinese Military Moves on Restive Guangzhou Suburb

Three days of protests sparked by the beating of a pregnant migrant worker by police in a suburb outside of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou have been put down by police and military units, which have imposed a curfew. Migrant workers from Sichuan Province, unhappy for a number reasons, planned to strike for a month.

Chinese authorities mobilized 2,700 soldiers from the nearby Guangdong Military Base on the night of June 12 and another 5,000 police on June 13, reported Apple Daily.

Around 6 p.m. on June 13, about 2,000 fully armed riot police and military police marched on the streets of Xintang shouting, “We are the elites of anti-terrorism. We are brave and we fight hard,” in an attempt to intimidate the residents. The show attracted tens of thousands of onlookers.

Waves of Protesters Violently Suppressed

From late June 12 to early June 13, tens of thousands of Xintang residents took to the streets in protest and clashed with police. A witness told New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) that countless protesters had emerged, wave after wave. Gun shots were heard as the police used tear gas and police batons to disperse the crowd.

Mr. Li, a local resident, told NTDTV that he heard about 30 gun shots. Another witness, Mr. Wang said, “They opened fire! It was like Libya and Egypt.”

At around 1 a.m. on June 13, police started to use force to clear the scene and enforce the curfew. Gunshots could be heard and, according to Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily, there were over 100 casualties. The paper also reported that hundreds of people were arrested.

Apple Daily’s report also said that an entire division with about 30 green military trucks from Guangzhou Military Base has entered Xintang, which will be under military control in the coming week.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency says that the military police arrested thousands of people, yet the local police claimed that only 150 people were arrested.

The riots were triggered on the evening of June 10 when security officers tried to prevent a pregnant woman and her husband, both from Sichuan province, from selling jeans without a permit on the street outside a supermarket. The officers violently kicked the woman to the ground, angering onlookers and inciting migrant workers from Sichuan province to start the three day riot.

No Reporting Allowed

China’s Central Propaganda Department has classified the Xintang riot as a sensitive event and any reporting is thus prohibited.

Officials in the central government conducted an overnight meeting on June 13 and urged local governments to suppress the protesters, according to Oriental Daily.

The vice-president of the People’s Supreme Court, Zhang Jun, said that those who display extreme hatred towards the country and society will suffer the death penalty, according to Legal Daily.

In the morning of June 12, the Guangzhou authorities held a press conference during which the mayor of Zengcheng City, Ye Nuping, flatly denied that any deaths or injuries had occurred during the crackdown.

Mr. Zhang from Xintang told NTDTV that the local government is lying: “Last night, I saw someone’s head hit by a brick. The skull was instantly broken and the brain was oozing out. How can there be no injuries? There have already been several deaths.”

While a large number of fully armed military police patrol the streets of Xintang, the migrant workers from Sichuan Province dare not make a move. However, on the Internet someone called for a one-month strike in order to financially bankrupt Xintang, which depends on its jeans manufacturing. Already some migrant workers have agreed to participate.

Next… Like Gangsters