MC Intro: The world press had been reporting that there had not been any protest in the three designated protest parks during the Olympic Games. However, undeterred by police interference, RFA’s Jill Ku spoke to a woman who travelled hundreds of miles to Beijing’s Ritan Park to stage a protest. Shortly after this interview, she was taken away by the police.
Jill Ku: China’s security authorities have designated protest zones in Beijing’s World Park, Purple Bamboo Park, and Ritan Park during the Olympic Games, but, so far, no one has actually been approved to stage a protest. The other day China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that departments concerned had received 77 applications to stage protests since August 1 and that 74 applications had been withdrawn because the complaints raised in the applications had been properly addressed, 2 applications had been suspended because they were incomplete, and 1 application had been turned down because departments concerned ruled that the planned protest violated the law. In response to queries by the media, Wan Wei, spokesman of Beijing’s Olympics Organizing Committee, said that protests cannot solve problems and that in Chinese culture problems are to be solved through consultation and dialogue.
Wang Wei: I personally think that what the protesters want is to have their problems solved, and once they are solved, the protesters will no longer petition. It is through legal procedures, not protests, that problems will eventually be resolved.
Jill Ku: Wang Wei emphasized that people now enjoy freedom of speech and that to designate protest zones during the Olympics is different from “letting a hundred flowers blossom”, a policy set forth by Mao Zedong [that was a trap designed to flush out dissidents by encouraging them to show themselves as critical of the regime, before wiping them out]. However, it has been reported that two Chinese have each been sentenced to one-year reeducation through labor for having repeatedly applied to stage protests in Beijing. International Olympic Committee spokesperson Giselle Davies said that she was unaware of the case.
Jill Ku: Was there really no one in China with grievances? I went to Ritan Park in Beijing’s Chaoyang district in the afternoon of August 20 to find out. There were a lot of public security personnel and armed military police outside the park. I had a chat with an armed military police who was standing there perfectly straight in his camouflage uniform.
Jill Ku: Hi, could you tell me your name?
Armed MP: I’m on duty; it’s not convenient to answer your question.
Jill Ku: Is this one of the three parks where protest zones have been designated?
Armed MP: Yes.
Jill Ku: No one has ever staged a protest here?
Armed MP: No, things have been normal in the last few days.
Jill Ku: Has anything happened?
Armed MP: No.
Jill Ku: Why?
Armed MP: Because the social environment is good.
Jill Ku : But there have been 77 applications and none of them has been approved.
Armed MP: I don’t know. I’m on duty; it’s not convenient to take interviews.
Jill Ku: Thank you.
Jill Ku: I walked into the park and was greeted by red flowers and green trees along the path. Birds were singing in a distance while leisurely and carefree visitors were strolling along the path. All was peaceful. But someone shouted at me before I could go farther.
Jill Ku: Why did you demand to see my ID? Isn’t this a park?
Park Police: I’m not sure if you are a reporter who has come to do interviews. If you are, we’ll make arrangements for you.
Jill Ku: While the park police was questioning me, a middle-aged woman, who looked weather-beaten, came up. She had overheard that I’m a reporter.
Female Voice: Is one allowed to demonstrate here? I want to apply for demonstration. The injustice I have suffered is outrageous.
Jill Ku: Her name is Gao Wenjuan. I took her aside and listened to her grievances as police and guards stood around with watchful eyes.
Gao Wenjuan: I’m from Liaoning province. My husband has suffered an outrageous injustice. He was locked up by the local procurator for nine months without cause or reason. He has been released, but his hand has become disabled because he had been handcuffed for so long. For three years no one has ever showed us any concern.
Jill Ku: That’s why you are here today?
Gao Wenjuan: Yes. I’m really at a dead end. Officials in our area have threatened to kill us. They have been very high-handed and have kept us under watch round-the-clock. We are not allowed to petition or complain about our grievances. Since the start of the Olympic Games I have been closely watched.
Jill Ku: How did you manage to come to Beijing?
Gao Wenjuan: I threw them off.
Jill Ku: Really? You got rid of them. What do you want the government to do? How should it handle your grievances?
Gao Wenjuan: I need justice. My husband should be rehabilitated, and the officials should take him to see a doctor.
Jill Ku: Why has your husband been wronged?
Gao Wenjuan: He is a member of the communist party and used to be a policeman at the local public security bureau. He was locked up by the local procurator without cause or reason. They often threaten to lock me up as well if I continue to petition.
Jill Ku: Who are they?
Gao Wenjuan: Officials of the Fuxin city procurator, Liaoning province. I went there to petition, but they alleged that I was deliberately making trouble. They said they had nothing to do with my case and shifted the responsibility onto their superior. I don’t know where their superior is. I went to Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province, but officials there said they didn’t know either. So far, I have come to Beijing several times.
Jill Ku: And your grievances have not been addressed?
Gao Wenjuan: No, all the officials have been shirking responsibility.
Jill Ku: Gao and her family have fallen into dire straits. Her husband is unable to work, and no one is there to take care of the two kids. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she accused the officials, and this attracted a crowd of onlookers. They offered her advice one after another,
Male Onlooker: Your problem won’t be solved by staging protests. You should go to the department in charge.
Jill Ku: She has been to different places and visited different departments.
Male Onlooker: Probably she has not been to the right department. She should have visited the department at a higher level that handles letters of complaints and visits by people who have grievances.
Gao Wenjuan: All the officials have been shirking responsibility. They think you are a person of no importance and just want to make you suffer. There is no justice, and there are no human rights either. They use their official status to crush people.
Female Onlooker A: If she has really been wronged, the media should help her.
Jill Ku: How do you think the media could help her?
Gao Wenjuan: The local officials are afraid of the media, and that’s why I was being watched.
Female Onlooker B: What’s the use of coming to Beijing since the matter happened in Liaoning? Isn’t there a local media?
Gao Wenjuan: The local authorities ordered a close watch on me. I have been helpless.
Jill Ku: Several men in well-cut trousers were not far away from us. They were watching us and talking to walkie-talkies in whispers.
Jill Ku: I believe they have reported us. Get going, or you’ll be taken away.
Gao Wenjuan: I want to stage a protest here.
Jill Ku: You can’t stage a protest unless you have applied in advance. People will soon come to get you.
Gao Wenjuan: I hope the media will help me. The officials are only afraid of the media, as it will expose them to the light of day.
Jill Ku: The media will. Now please take care of yourself.
Jill Ku: Shortly afterwards two uniformed policemen came, and the crowd broke up in a hubbub. I followed Gao Wenjuan from a distance until she safely walked out of the park. But shortly afterwards she was surrounded by several heavily built men, and they demanded that Gao follow them. One man was wearing a blue sport shirt, on which printed the word “police”.
Jill Ku: They took Gao Wenjuan across the street and disappeared from sight.
This is a report from Beijing by Jill Ku with Radio Free Asia.