Beijing - Chinese security forces have placed some prominent
dissidents under virtual house arrest and persuaded others to leave
Beijing before next week's 20th anniversary of the crushing of the
1989 democracy movement, activists said Friday.
'There are restrictions on me going out,' Beijing-based dissident
Qi Zhiyong told the German Press Agency dpa.
'I can only go to school to drop off and pick up my child and go
to the hospital,' said Qi, who lost a leg after he was shot during
the crackdown on the 1989 protests.
'The children have been on holiday for the last two days, so I
have to get into a police car to go out,' he said.
Qi said his telephone was 'under surveillance' and his internet
connection was 'paralysed' on Friday.
Another rights activist told dpa that police had questioned some
of the 19 intellectuals and other activists who attended a recent
seminar and commemoration of the 1989 democracy movement in Beijing.
'Several people were called in by the state security police after
the meeting,' said the activist, who asked not to be identified
because he feared arrest after police warned him not to talk to
foreign journalists.
Retired university professor Ding Zilin, whose 17-year-old son was
shot dead in the 1989 crackdown, said state security police had also
visited her.
The police prevented her from attending a memorial meeting of the
Tiananmen Mothers, an informal group of relatives of people who died
in the 1989 crackdown, Ding told dpa.
'These people came to see me on May 17,' Ding said.
'One aim was to stop me from going to the memorial; the other was
to ask me to leave Beijing for the June 4 period,' she said.
The 1989 protests ended when troops with tanks and live ammunition
moved through Beijing overnight on June 3-4, 1989, reportedly killing
hundreds of unarmed civilians who allegedly blocked their route.
Demonstrators, who congregated in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, had
urged the government to end corruption and allow democracy and other
political and social rights.
Ding said police suggested she go stay in the eastern coastal city
of Qingdao for the anniversary, but told her she could also choose
any other place.
'I said, 'I will go nowhere,'' she said.
The police then told her that Bao Tong, an outspoken former
Communist Party official, and his wife had agreed to leave Beijing.
Bao is a former aide to late Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang, who was
purged for sympathizing with the 1989 protestors.
A book of Zhao's memoirs, secretly recorded by him and collected
by Bao, was published this month after being smuggled out of China.
'I said his condition is different, he has finished things,' Ding
said of the police attempts to persuade her to follow Bao's lead.
'He collated the memoirs and published them,' she said. 'Now, of
course, he can have a rest. But I am different. I have a relative who
was murdered at this time [June 4]. I can't leave.'
Beijing police visit the homes of prominent dissidents and rights
activists in the run-up to all major events, placing some dissidents
under house arrest and forcing others to live temporarily at heavily
guarded hotels.
Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary guards keep
petitioners, protestors and known dissidents off the streets before
and during the events, including the annual sessions of parliament in
March.
The 20th anniversary of the 1989 democracy movement has been one
of the most sensitive dates in China for several years.
In a recent report, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the
Chinese government 'continues to persecute those who seek a public
reassessment of the bloody crackdown.'
'Chinese citizens who challenge the official version of what
happened in June 1989 are subject to swift reprisals from security
forces,' the group said.
'These include relatives of victims who demand redress and
eyewitnesses to the massacre and its aftermath whose testimonies
contradict the official version of events,' it said.
Ding and the other Tiananmen Mothers have repeatedly demanded an
official investigation into the military action and a public
announcement of the death toll and the names of the dead.
The Beijing rights activist who asked not to be named said he
expected the current restrictions on Ding, himself and other
dissidents to continue until after October 1, when Beijing is
scheduled to host celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the
founding of the People's Republic of China, including a military
parade.
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