Shanwei Shootings: Photos from Shanwei

Shanwei Shootings: Photos from Shanwei
Villagers were surrounded by armed police and unable to leave the village. Large number of the victims' relatives burned incense and kneeled down to beg police to allow them to claim the bodies. (The Epoch Times)
12/10/2005
Updated:
9/11/2015

On December 6, CCP aauthorities in the rural Chinese village of Shanwei authorities sent 3,000 paramilitary police to use tanks and machine guns to suppress and kill protesting villagers. This is the first incident since the June 4 Massacre in Tiananmen Square that the Chinese Communist Party has publicly used military force and gunfire against civilians.

CCP authorities attempted to cover up the news by surrounding the village with tanks and several thousand soldiers. Martial law was comprehensively enforced and villagers were forbidden to leave the village. Large numbers of the victims’ relatives kneeled before the military police and begged to be allowed to claim their relatives’ bodies. Some of the villagers wore white clothes or white headbands and held incense and candles as they kneeled before the killers , crying out in their great grief.

Shanwei Enforces Martial Law, Relatives Beg to Claim Bodies

It is reported that the local government sent down a secret order to “damage the bodies and destroy the evidence, bodies are not allowed to be claimed.” Villagers burned incense and knelt down before the police, begging to get the bodies of their family members back.

Currently, the armed police still surround the village. On December 7, 8, and 9, heavily-armed police entered the village to arrest people, badly frightening the surviving villagers, according to the villagers’ reports.

The villagers revealed that, “The Shanwei city government is still lying about the incident. It claims that only three died and eight were injured, and the three who died killed themselves using explosives. The government also claims that no one opened fire, but these are all lies. It also told victims’ family members not to tell the outside world that the victims were shot, and the city government will give them welfare, etc.”

Sound of Hope radio interviewed local villagers and revealed that besides tanks in the village, machine guns will shoot at villagers on the street at any time. So far, about 70 people have been shot dead, most of them youths in their twenties.

The interview also revealed that villagers were isolated from each other, and no one dared to leave home to talk with neighbors. Phone service has been interrupted so all communication between the villagers is cut off.

These photos of Dongzhou village, Shanwei city, taken on the morning of December 9 at great risk by Epoch Times reporters in China, show a village in China grieving for its dead and the callous nature of the Communist Party that ordered the shooting that killed them.

Villagers of Shanwei wear white mourning clothes and cry out in grief. (The Epoch Times)
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Villagers wearing mourning white headbands hope people of justice will offer aid. (The Epoch Times)
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Villagers beg police to let them claim their relatives’ bodies. (The Epoch Times)
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This woman’s (right) husband was known as a very honest person. He just came to watch the scene that day, but was hi tin the head by a stray bullet and died. (The Epoch Times)
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This woman’s husband was shot and killed by a stray bullet in the head when he was watching the scene that day. (The Epoch Times)
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Villagers burning incense for the dead beg police to be allowed to claim their relatives’ bodies (The Epoch Times)
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