The Chinese authorities have started quietly detaining those involved in a peaceful protest against zero-Covid policy in Beijing on November 27.
According to a report in CNN, at least eight people, mainly young and female professionals in the same extended social circle, were detained by the authorities after attending a vigil together weeks earlier.
“As I record this video, four of my friends have already been taken away,” a 26-year-old woman, a recent graduate who is an editor at a publishing house, said in a video recording from late December, according to CNN.
“I entrusted some friends of mine with making this video public after my disappearance. In other words, when you see this video, I have been taken away by the police for a while,” she added.
China saw unprecedented protests after thousands of demonstrators protested in cities across the country against President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid strategy with some daring to openly call for his removal in the streets.
Two of the eight young women detained have been formally charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to the report. The charge could bring them closer to standing trial, with neither granted bail as of that day.
From Shanghai to the capital Beijing, residents had gathered in November to grieve the 10 people killed in the blaze in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, speak out against zero-Covid and call for freedom and democracy.
Students also demonstrated or put up protest posters in dozens of university campuses. While in many parts of the country, residents in neighbourhoods under lockdown tore down barriers and took to the streets, following mass anti-lockdown protests in November.
However, the authorities have started a crackdown against protestors in a country where protests or dissent is dealt harshly and banned by law.
The total number of those detained in connection with the November protests in China remains unknown.
Chinese authorities have made no official statement about the detentions and there has been neither public confirmation from the authorities whether any detentions were made in connection with the protests.
However, the report added that the authorities have started detaining people quietly in the weeks after November 27, a chilling marker of the extent China’s ruling Communist Party will go to supress all forms of dissent and free speech.
People, aware of the detention of their friends and relatives, express a sense of fear and confusion over the detentions.
“To be honest, I think the logic of arresting them is quite unclear,” said a person who knows the detainees.
“Because they are really not particularly experienced (with activism) … judging from this result, I can only say that this is a very ruthless suppression of some of the simplest and most spontaneous calls for justice in society today,” the person said.
“If they were arrested and imprisoned because they went to participate in this peaceful protest, I feel that maybe any young person who loves literature and yearns for a little bit of so-called ‘free thought’ could be arrested,” another person told CNN.
“This signal is terrifying,” he added.
Reports earlier said that that the Beijing authorities used cellphone data to track down those who demonstrated in Chinese cities and call them in for questioning.
China started detaining people as early as December 18 and the crackdown continued even in January. International human rights bodies have repeatedly accused China of extorting confessions from detainees through torture.
Read all the Latest News here
Comments
0 comment