Retired workers protest in China's Qiqihar over detention of protesters

360 字
2009 年 6 月 30 日 17:45
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
BBCAPP
英文
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Text of report by Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy on 28 June

[Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights & Democracy report: "500 Retirees and Family Members Demonstrate in Qiqihar to Demand Release of Arrested Workers"]

Urgent! [as published, in English]

(28 Jun) - This Centre has learned that this morning about 500 retired workers and retirees' family members of a paper mill in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, demonstrated in front of the government buildings calling for the release of workers arrested on 24 June.

On 24 June, three thousand retired workers and retirees' family members of a paper mill in Qiqihar attacked the government buildings in Qiqihar and were involved in a bloody clash with nearly a thousand Armed Police and Public Security personnel, over the issue of pension funds and corruption among company leaders. Thirty workers and family members were injured, and five of them are still hospitalized. Seven workers' representatives who were arrested have not been released.

Recently the number of major "mass incidents" in China has increased sharply. In the 10 days from 15 to 25 June there were five "mass incidents" involving several thousand and even tens of thousands of people:

Time -Place -Reason -Number of participants -Main facts

15 June -Nankang City, Jiangxi -Dissatisfaction with government's new taxation system -20,000 people -Four police cars smashed up

20 June -Shishou City, Hubei -Prevent Armed Police from recovering a dead body -50,000 people -Clash between 50,000 city residents and 5,000 Armed Police

24 June -Qiqiqihar, Heilongjiang -Retirement pensions led to attack on government buildings -3,000 people -Bloody clash with 1,000 Armed Police and Public Security personnel

25 June -Zhongshan town, Guangdong -Attack on town government building over requisitioning of land -3,000 people -Clash with as many as 1,000 Public Security riot police

25 June -Shaoguan City, Guangdong -Clash between Han and Uygur workers -5,000 people -Riot between 500 workers from Xinjiang and 5,000 Han Chinese people

Source: Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Hong Kong, in Chinese 28 Jun 09