Professor Harassed for Attempting to Commemorate Tiananmen Massacre

Professor Harassed for Attempting to Commemorate Tiananmen Massacre
Sun Wenguang (left) and Liu Di in front of Tiananmen Square in 2005. (Sun Wenguang/The Epoch Times)
6/6/2006
Updated:
6/6/2006

Professor Sun Wenguang of Shandong University in China was summoned to a police station for questioning at 10:00 a.m. on June 4 and detained until about 3 p.m. It was the second time he was summoned for questioning after being released from Shandalu police station in Jinan City at 2:00 a.m the same day.

Sun had publicly announced that he would commemorate the 17th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Democratic Movement, with actions in Tiananmen Square on June 4. He caught a train from Jinan to Beijing on the morning of June 3 and was arrested in Beijing by the chief of police of Shandalu Police Station, Wang, and policemen from Licheng police station.

Sun’s wife said that Professor Sun was released from Shandalu police station at 2:00 a.m. Being 72 years old, he was tired, but was all right mentally.

Later that morning of June 4, when Professor Sun came back home at about 10:00 after buying some dessert and milk, the same policemen who took him into custody in Beijing took him to the police station again. When our reporter called Wang (the chief of Shandalu police station) and asked him about the arrest, he denied detaining Professor Sun.

After Professor Sun went back home in the afternoon, the Epoch Times reporter interviewed him.

Sun said, “The times of these arrests were from 11:00 a.m. on June 3 to 2:00 a.m. on June 4 and from 10:00 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m. on June 4.”

Professor Sun said the document issued to summon him for questioning had the words “using cults to propagate superstition and disturb social order.”

At midnight on June 3 in Shandalu police station, the police asked why Professor Sun went to Beijing. They took out some articles he had written on Falun Gong including an article titled “An Investigation Into the Deaths of Falun Gong Practitioners” and asked if he had written these articles. “During the interrogation on June 4, they took out the articles I published on the Epoch Times website such as ‘Wang Wenyi Calls For Human nature – a Discussion on Falun Gong,’ ‘An Open Letter by Sun Wenguang to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao: Urgently Investigate Into the Sujiatun Incident,’ etc and asked me whether I wrote these articles and why I wrote them.”

Professor Sun also said, “They told me I was brought back from Beijing to Jinan because of Falun Gong.”

Sun said in reality these articles were published several months ago but they only summoned him for interrogation on June 3.

“I think the main reason was that they did not want me to go to Tiananmen Square to disrupt social order but they could not say it directly. During my detention, they did not mention the”1989 Tiananmen Square Democratic Movement“ or the Tiananmen Square at all. In fact, I wrote many articles about the 1989 movement recently such as ‘I Will Go on a Pilgrimage in Tianamen Square on June 4.’ It is very apparent.”

Professor Sun said that in the past two days he received many SMS from various people expressing their consolation and respect.

He said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was sensitive about commemorations of the 1989 Movement during the period around June 4. It would oppress people who wanted to commemorate the event by all means. Discussions about the event are banned in all publications in China and in the internet.

Hu Jia, a human rights advocate in Beijing, commented about the event. He said that he was placed under house arrest since May 23 before the anniversary on June 4 last year. He was not allowed to light a candle on the balcony of his home on the night of June 4. It was considered “disturbing social order.”

Hu said, “A university professor like Sun went specifically to Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 1989 Movement from outside Beijing. The CCP is worried that more people may follow Sun’s actions. Because Sun is from the university, the CCP is worried that his action will set an example for university students and staff. Hence, the CCP will definitely not allow him to take any action.”

Sun is also a famous internet writer. Shandalu police station has confiscated two of his computers in the name of carrying out investigations since May 26.