China Allows Expat Protest, Blocks Locals, Punks
Sun March 30, 2003 03:11 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - Around 200 foreigners shouted anti-war slogans as they
marched past the U.S. embassy in Beijing on Sunday in China's first
government-approved protest against the U.S.-led war on Iraq, but police
stymied protests by Chinese.
A melting pot of expatriate nationals hoisted signs reading "Stop Killing"
and "Bush and Blair are war criminals" en route from one of the city's
oldest parks to a U.S. compound in the leafy embassy district, under the
watchful eyes of dozens of police escorts.
But hundreds of police ordered around 100 Chinese students to surrender
their banners and blocked them from entering another park where locals had
secured permission to demonstrate.
"At eleven o'clock this morning the protest was canceled," a police
spokesman told reporters gathered at the gate, without elaborating. That
time would correspond to 0300 GMT. One Chinese man was hauled off for
handing out anti-war leaflets.
Authorities had already forced the Chinese protest organizers to slash
their numbers and relocate from their chosen venue, the Wangfujing
pedestrian shopping street near Tiananmen Square.
The organizers did not appear at the park and were not immediately
reachable for comment.
Police at Wangfujing also led away around 10 Chinese teenage punk rockers
sporting combat boots and mohawk hair-dos after they raised signs reading
"Wanted: George W. Bush" and "No Blood For Oil" and read an open letter
addressed to the American president.
Several Asian journalists were briefly detained.
The protests paled in comparison to mass rallies seen around the globe as
casualties of the war have mounted.
They were a token show of public discontent over a war opposed by the
Communist government and most Chinese, signaling Beijing's wariness of
straining ties with the United States.
"It is good of the government to finally allow a protest but it's still so
small," said marcher Abdul Qawi, 24, a Yemeni national studying Chinese at
Peking University.
"It's probably the smallest anywhere."
At Peking University itself, Chinese students prevented from carrying out
anti-war marches held a campus fund-raising event for Iraqi victims. "We
raised 1,300 yuan," said Zhou Si, vice-president of the school's student
association. That sum would be equivalent to US$157.
"For now, we have no plans to march," she added.
The foreign protesters had tried to march at the same spot a week ago, but
police stopped them and told them to apply first, said British organizer
Jim Weldon. "They informed us how to go through the proper channels to get
the approvals, which we did."
Police limited the group to 150 participants, directed them to march four
abreast to avoid blocking traffic and asked them to disperse after 40
minutes. They also barred Chinese nationals from taking part.
Some Chinese bystanders told Reuters they wished they could have joined in
the foreigners' protest.
"I am also against the war," said one 45-year-old woman, Wang Fang. "But
these are the rules of our country." ($1=8.277 Yuan)
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2472645
