Results tagged “petitioners”

• China's secretive military launches Web site [AP] "China's Defense Ministry launched its first official Web site Thursday, part of an effort by the normally secretive military to be more transparent. The launch of the site — including an English version — comes as the U.S. Army's top general visits Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterparts. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey was to visit the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army on Thursday and meet PLA Chief of the General Staff Chen Bingde."
• More parents protest against lead poisoning in China [Reuters] "The number of Chinese children found with excess lead in their blood near a metal plant in central China has reached 1,354, state media said on Thursday, with new clashes between police and parents over pollution. The rise in initial diagnoses of poisoning around the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Hunan province adds to a recent rash of such cases, which have exposed growing tensions between local governments and residents over pollution, often by poorly regulated plants and factories with ties to local government."
• China bans petitioners in Beijing [BBC News] "The Chinese government has issued a new regulation to stop petitioners from travelling to the capital, Beijing. Legal officials from Beijing will now visit people with complaints in the provinces in order to hear their cases. Petitions can also be filed online and a response or solution is to be given within 60 days."

A group of 38 petitioners from Shanghai yesterday made their way to Hong Kong to submit their application forms for the establishment of a "Chinese Petitioners Alliance" to the Hong Kong Police Headquarters. RFA adds that outside the police headquarters, the petitioners unfurled banners protesting forced evictions by the Shanghai government and accusing the PSB in Shanghai and Beijing of lawlessness. Petitioners said that they were doing this because Hong Kong had greater relative freedom than the mainland, greater respect for the rule of law and greater media freedom. Some of them, who shall remain unnamed here, told the media that prior to this trip to Hong Kong, they were repeatedly harrassed by their local police and area councils and warned that they might be detained on their return to Shanghai and sent in for 're-education'. More news and videos available here (in Chinese and behind the GFW) for those of you that are interested.