Cracking down on China's dissent
Updated on 16 March 2007
This year's National People's Congress in Beijing has been the scene of an increasingly repressive crackdown on protestors and petitioners.
According to a report by Human Right's Watch, 700 petitioners have been arrested in twelve days.
'We must ensure the people are entitled to the right of democratic election, decision-making, management and oversight.'Wen Jiabao
And our Beijing correspondent Lindsey Hilsum has learned that a petitioner she interviewed for this programme only last week, has now found himself behind bars.
It is the final ceremony of the National People's Congress and all proposed laws were passed with an overwhelming majority. At his annual press conference the Prime Minister of China, Wen Jiabao, outlined his vision.
He said: "By developing socialist democracy, we mean we must make the people the masters of their own house. To do this, we must ensure the people are entitled to the right of democratic election, decision-making, management and oversight. "
The contrast between what's been said during the NPC and what's actually been going on could not be more striking.
Inside the GHOP the talk has been of democracy, even of people being allowed to criticise the government.
But anyone who's tried to come here to Tiananmen Square to protest has been blocked, even arrested.
Take, for example, Mr Zheng who we met last week. He had come to Beijing to petition the authorities after thugs he says were hired by corrupt local officials tore down his house in his hometown.
'The government hunts us like fugitives. What law did we break'Cao Qiang Zhen
Threatened
Yesterday, we learnt Mr Zheng had been arrested on Tiananmen Square.
Today we went to find him. We had been told he was being held in a building in one of Beijing's alleyways or hutongs. The sign said it was a hotel.
We found him in a side building, behind bars. He said they locked him up last night and officials from his hometown had threatened to take him back and put him in a labour camp.
His wife and children don't know what to do.
His wife, Cao Qiang Zhen, said: "We petition according to the law. We're not looking for trouble. We have no home now. The government hunts us like fugitives. What law did we break? They break all the laws and get away with it."
Prime Minister Wen said today that achieving true socialist democracy would take a long time, too long maybe for those arrested during this National People's Congress.
