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Exodus on main street: China’s clean-up begins
Mary-Anne Toy
TheAge
Monday, July 21, 2008
THE clean-up of Beijing’s streets has begun in earnest. Not just rubbish, but unwanted people who could be a source of embarrassment for the Chinese Government as the world arrives for the Olympics.
About 10 kilometres south of the Olympic Green, where thousands of smiling volunteers and officials are waiting to greet the first wave of tourists, hundreds of so-called “petitioners” who had journeyed to the capital to complain about corruption or other injustices were removed on buses yesterday.
Last Wednesday, when The Age visited this same petition office, up to 500 complainants from around the nation were queueing in a largely peaceful atmosphere under the watch of half a dozen young policemen. An older officer in a golf cart moved down the queue, patiently copping abuse from people angry about delays. The Age was able to interview people discreetly.
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Yesterday the office was almost deserted and the atmosphere was tense. When The Age arrived soon after 11am, we saw why: two busloads of petitioners were being driven away as part of the Olympic clean-out of potential troublemakers.
A Hunan provincial official, sent to Beijing to identify and bring back Hunan petitioners, said proudly that six busloads of people had already been taken away that morning.
As The Age tried to interview the few dozen die-hard protesters remaining on the footpath, plain-clothes security men and uniformed police intervened repeatedly – in flagrant breach of China’s Olympic pledge to allow foreign reporters to work freely.
Age photographer John Donegan was detained by two policemen as he stepped out of a taxi. Another officer filmed him while police were interrogating him.
A burly man in a striped T-shirt physically forced The Age’s Chinese translator into the security guard’s office and tried to close the door when we began asking questions.
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4 Responses to “Exodus on main street: China’s clean-up begins”
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July 21st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Now if anyone really cared, they would want to see the protesters and ask them what was the problem. Ya see, they don’t, they haul them away. Silence Them… I would seriously boycott an event that does this. And to think, this is a worldwide event…
July 21st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hiding the real China from the world is another form of propaganda.
I certainly have no plans to visit China. I don’t buy Chinese goods either. Why would I want to support a police state?
July 21st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I love the wording — “Clean UP”. Sounds like Amerika, right?
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July 22nd, 2008 at 3:13 am
I hope they have a quake in Beijing such as man has never seen before the athletes and spectators arrive. Total destruction of all facilities necessary for the games would serve China right.