Press Interpreter

12/08/05 -- Mr. Liu, a villager of Dongzhou (Guangdong province) told this station that there are still villagers missing two evenings after the bloody conflict there. They have not returned and neighbors fear the worst. He said, “It’s already been several days and they haven’t returned. At around 9:00 in the evening, I heard that a villager had been shot, and that his brother ran out to find him, but up until now neither have returned. He has a wife and an eleven year-old child at home.�

Another villager said that he knew that at least 19 had been killed. He said, “…beaten to death—lots of people have been beaten to death, maybe ten or more. The dead have been carried away.� A different villager accused the local officials of not giving relatives a chance to identify the bodies. “Right now, the dead have all been carried off and sent to be cremated or just thrown in the sea.� The villager said that the police had opened fire on the townspeople. When asked by the reporter if he had seen it with his own eyes, he replied, “Look, I’m not making things up here, the whole town knows about it.�

Dongzhou, a city of 40,000, became quiet like a “city of death� as evening came on—the villagers didn’t dare go out. One resident said, “Right now, the people of Dongzhou don’t know how to react. It’s like the heavens and earth are in a commotion; nobody dares venture out. This evening, the police are all up on the hill.� The reporter asked, “Do you dare go outside?� He replied, “No. Right now, those who aren’t afraid of death have gone out to walk around—those who do fear death are absent from the streets and alleys of the town.�

The villager said he was worried that the police were still out arresting people, and asked me to go out and report about it. He even said that he was willing to assist me: “I’ll take you around. I’m not afraid of death. I feel the indignation of the people of Dongzhou. I’m already fifty years old. I’m not afraid of death.�

However, on Thursday a reporter from Hong Kong’s Wireless TV station was arrested by the authorities and forced to “admit mistakes and repent.� A colleague remarked, “They’ll lock you up if you go near there.�

According to the villagers, transportation leaving the city is controlled by the police and there are inspection checkpoints on highways leaving the city. The police are instructed to arrest perpetrators of Tuesday night’s “disturbance.� According to one villager, “The police have sealed off all the roads; there are tanks in the middle of the highway. We are all closed in here; no one is able to leave.�

As for the root cause of the disturbance, news at the scene indicates that it started on Tuesday evening when officials sent the police to clear the area around an electric power plant. The villagers fought back using homemade weapons including stones and Molotov cocktails. The police then fired back on the villagers. A person at the scene said, “When the police went to clear everyone out, the people obviously were obliged to protect their rights and defend their town—that’s why they fought back. At this time, people started throwing improvised devices like bombs made with gasoline. That’s when the police opened fire. Some were injured. My friend was at the scene and saw cops and anti-riot police patrolling the whole area. Not far from the center of town, I spoke with other villagers who said that they had seen dead bodies, but weren’t sure how many had died because of the confusion there during the night. They were at least sure that some had been shot and others were dead.�

[Full article]

[This article is from Radio Free Asia. It is based in Washington D.C.]

--Translated by Joseph McMullin

Go to original article:

http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/xinwen/2005/12/08/china_rights_clash/