DATE=6/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-ANNIVERSARY-PROTESTS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263131
BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Chinese authorities have tightened security to
prevent citizens from commemorating the anniversary of
a violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators
eleven years ago. A human rights organization says at
least 50 dissidents across China are on a hunger
strike and at least eight people are under arrest
today (Sunday). VOA's Leta Hong Fincher reports from
Beijing on efforts to remember the crackdown in
Tiananmen Square.
TEXT: Chinese authorities are keeping a tight grip on
dissidents and relatives of those killed during the
June fourth crackdown in Tiananmen Square eleven years
ago. The government calls the pro-democracy movement
in 1989 a counter-revolutionary rebellion and has
banned all protests related to the crackdown.
One veteran pro-democracy activist, Ren Wanding, spoke
to V-O-A by telephone in Beijing about being placed
under house arrest.
///REN ACT 1 in Chinese, establish and then fade
under///
He says on Friday, the authorities came to his house
and ordered him not to participate in any activities
commemorating the anniversary of the crackdown. He
says police will not permit him to go outside until
after June 4th.
Mr. Ren has spent eleven years in prison for his
criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and is one of
the only democracy activists in China who is not in
exile.
///REN ACT 2 in Chinese, establish and then fade
under///
He is calling for the Chinese government to reverse
its verdict of the violent crackdown and allow the
Chinese people to pay tribute to those who lost their
lives.
The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy
says dissidents across China are on a 24-hour hunger
strike to remember those killed in the government's
crackdown.
///LU ACT, in Chinese, establish and then fade
under///
The spokesman for the Hong Kong-based human rights
group, Lu Siqing, says at least 50 dissidents in
Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hebei and Henan provinces are
taking part in the hunger strike. Mr. Lu also says
at least eight people have been arrested across the
country for attempting to commemorate the anniversary.
He says three of those arrested were Christian
protesters in Beijing planning a gathering at their
home. Others have written letters to the government
demanding a reversal of the official verdict on the
crackdown.
Human Rights in China, another human rights group
based in New York, says mothers of children killed
during the crackdown are launching an on-line petition
to the Chinese government on Sunday. The group says
Ding Zilin and other Tiananmen Mothers are demanding
the right to mourn peacefully in public and the right
to accept humanitarian aid from organizations inside
and outside China. The mothers have so far identified
160 victims who were killed or disappeared during the
crackdown eleven years ago.
Amnesty International says 213 people are still in
prison for participating in the 1989 pro-democracy
protests.
(signed)
NEB/LHF/PLM
04-Jun-2000 04:09 AM EDT (04-Jun-2000 0809 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
