The Fiji TimesAs parliament meets, China retains would-be protesters at bay
By Engen Tham
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Jack Zhang, considered one of 1000’s of people that misplaced entry to their financial savings final yr in a rural financial institution scandal, not too long ago tried to go to Beijing to lodge a grievance with the nationwide public complaints physique, forward of this week’s parliamentary session.
However when he was making an attempt to board a high-speed prepare from Hunan province in southern China to Beijing on the finish of February, 12 individuals figuring out themselves as police and authorities staff stopped him, he stated.
“They created a human wall,” Zhang stated.
He left the station and managed to board from a unique station, hiding within the prepare’s rest room, earlier than being apprehended by eight individuals and held in a resort for 2 days.
China has lengthy tightened safety in Beijing forward of the Nationwide Individuals’s Congress and different large occasions, taking steps to head-off potential agitators or others who would possibly create a disturbance from travelling to the capital.
Three different depositors who misplaced cash when at the very least $1.5 billion in funds have been frozen final April – a fraud that sparked quite a few protests – additionally reported makes an attempt to curtail their actions, from having monitoring gadgets fitted to their vehicles to being barricaded into their properties.
Whereas many shoppers with small deposits have been repaid by monetary authorities in Henan, others from round China who positioned giant quantities with the small lenders are nonetheless owed important sums.
They grew to become recognized to authorities after they travelled to Henan to attempt to withdraw their funds.
China has a low tolerance for group shows of discontent, even when anger just isn’t directed in opposition to the federal government.
A few of those that spoke with Reuters declined to make use of their full names because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The Ministry of Public Safety couldn’t be reached for requests for remark. The Shanghai, Zhejiang and Hunan province overseas affairs departments didn’t reply to or couldn’t be instantly reached for requests for remark.
TRACKED
Final month, a depositor in Shanghai surnamed Dong discovered what he believed to be a monitoring gadget caught on his automotive, and filed a police report. Quickly, at the very least six individuals began sleeping of their vehicles exterior his constructing, following him each time he left, Dong instructed Reuters.
“As quickly as they see me getting within the automotive, they are going to get in theirs,” he stated. “They’ve requested me to not go to Beijing,” he stated, including that he had not deliberate to journey to the capital.
Depositors have reported quite a few makes an attempt by authorities to restrict their motion since they misplaced their financial savings and began drawing consideration to their plight.
Final yr, authorities used cell phone well being codes to stop financial institution depositor protesters from leaving their properties, and a protest within the Henan capital Zhengzhou was violently damaged up by safety personnel.
A retired depositor in Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, stated whereas she has not encountered violence, limits to her freedom of motion have been excessive.
“They received’t let me go away, (they) use their automotive to barricade me,” she stated, including that she had requested permission to move to Beijing in the midst of February, to file a compliant.
She says she has been underneath fixed surveillance by native authorities because the center of final yr, which is why she has to get approval to go away town.
“I’ve no high quality of life, I’m simply alive.”
($1 = 6.9185 Chinese language yuan renminbi)
(Modifying by Lincoln Feast.)
