Tag Archives: Communism

Tens of thousands protest in Hong Kong as China tensions simmer over booksellers

Protest in China

By Venus Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents marched in protest on the 19th anniversary of the financial hub’s return to Chinese rule on Friday as tensions simmer against Chinese authorities over the abductions of Hong Kong booksellers.

Some waved banners criticizing Beijing for the cross-border abductions as acts of a “totalitarian” regime, as well as calling for the release of leading dissidents, chanting for democracy and for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down.

Several hundred scuffled with police outside Government House, with police using pepper spray to keep them back. Organizers said 110,000 people took part in the march, while police put the figure at 19,300.

The July 1 protests are considered a barometer of public sentiment toward Beijing, with the former British colony due to hold citywide elections in September.

The city has been unnerved over the past year by the disappearances of five booksellers who specialized in works critical of Chinese leaders. One of the men, Lam Wing-kee, who was detained for eight months by Chinese agents and released last month, criticized Beijing for “violating Hong Kong’s rights” through illegal cross-border enforcement operations.

The tactics have raised fears of Communist Party rulers in Beijing eroding the so-called “one country, two systems” formula, granting Hong Kong a high degree of freedom and autonomy since its 1997 return from British to Chinese rule.

China has denied wrongdoing.

“This is a very grave threat to the safety of Hong Kong residents that an unknown force is spying on people,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Cyd Ho at the rally.

“The Hong Kong government has to follow up with the central government on what’s really happening behind the scenes.”

Hundreds of police were also deployed to guard China’s main representative “Liaison Office” in Hong Kong, after activists who advocate independence from China posted plans on social media for a “black mask” evening protest to besiege the skyscraper.

Scores of young people, some dressed in black T-shirts with the words “HK is not China”, were searched by police in the area and roads were blocked off with metal barricades to prevent trouble.

Lam, who had been due to lead the July 1 march that each year draws tens of thousands, pulled out, citing safety concerns after being followed by two unknown strangers, a lawmaker said.

“He feels increasingly concerned about his own personal safety,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho.

A senior Chinese official, Wang Guangya, who heads the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, said the booksellers had “destroyed” the one country, two systems formula by publishing banned books in mainland China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, said in a speech on Friday that “no matter what the difficulties and challenges, our confidence and determination towards one country, two systems will not waver”.

Xi added Hong Kong would continue to enjoy a high degree of autonomy and Beijing would strictly adhere to the law.

A 79-day “umbrella revolution” in late 2014 demanding Beijing allow full democracy in Hong Kong brought chaos to the streets.

(Additional reporting by Lindsy Long, Sharon Shi and Hera Poon in Hong Kong and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Nick Macfie)

China’s one-time ‘democracy’ village protests for fourth straight day

Protest in Wukan

By James Pomfret

WUKAN, China (Reuters) – The Chinese fishing village of Wukan staged a fourth straight day of protests on Wednesday against what residents say was the unlawful arrest of the village chief, a rare show of grassroots defiance against authorities in Communist China.

Wukan, in the southern province of Guangdong, made international headlines in 2011 as a symbol of grassroots democracy after an uprising against corrupt local authorities and illegal land grabs that resulted in rare concessions being granted by provincial Communist Party leaders.

Under a blazing sun, the village of 15,000 once again united to march for the release of Lin Zuluan, the popular and democratically elected village chief who was arrested in a surprise midnight raid over the weekend.

Lin was shown on state television on Tuesday confessing to accepting bribes, but many villagers profess his innocence, saying he’d been forced into making a confession.

Sources close to the Lin family said his grandson was detained by police soon after Lin’s arrest and interrogated for 12 hours.

The grandson was released soon after Lin’s confession went public, they said.

Despite repeated warnings by authorities to the villagers not to stir up trouble, more than a thousand again marched in a loud procession, waving red China flags and chanting for justice.

“The villagers of Wukan don’t believe Lin Zuluan took bribes,” read a hand-written white banner held up by a group of several children at the vanguard of the procession.

They also held up banners making a broader appeal to national leaders in Beijing to “save Wukan”.

“We want the central government to come and investigate,” said Wei Yonghan, an elderly villager joining the march.

“We won’t give up. We’ll keep marching every day till they listen to us.”

Wukan’s defiance in 2011 took place during the administration of former president Hu Jintao. It remains unclear whether security forces will take a stronger line under President Xi Jinping who has cracked down on rights activists across China since taking office.

Over the past few days, however, authorities seem to have tightened their grip. Some reporters were warned by authorities in nearby Shanwei of “inciting, planning and directing the protests,” according to reports carried in Chinese state media.

Foreign media outlets including Reuters were urged to leave the village immediately.

A villager who was taken into detention by police and interrogated said authorities were aggressively going after potential ringleaders of the protests to quash any escalation of unrest.

“They questioned me for hours and wanted to know everything, who was organizing things,” the villager, who declined to be identified, said. “They told me to open my Wechat (messaging app) … and spent hours looking through my messages.”

While there didn’t appear to be a mass deployment of riot police for the protests on Wednesday, at least three drones could be seen hovering in the sky tracking the demonstration.

Villagers also occasionally chased off individuals in the crowds they believed to be plain-clothes officers.

The village is about a four-hour drive east of Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, where months of pro-democracy protests brought chaos to the streets in late 2014.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

Christian Radio Station To Bring Hope To Communist Nation

For years in the country of Albania, the communist government once exerted such control over the publications and broadcasting that you could not buy a dictionary with God in it.

Now, the country is undergoing a revolution of hope as a Christian radio station is airing programming in the Albanian’s native language aimed at bringing the good news to the lost.

Radio 7 has been broadcasting Christian material to the country since 2002 but had been hampered by the fact their programs were translations of North American programs that were aimed at believers in the United States and Canada.

The head of Radio 7 contacted an American ministry called The Tide which works to create locally produced Gospel shows around the world.  The group helped launch radio ministries in countries such as Nigeria, Nepal and India.  They knew they could bring the kind of help to Radio 7 that would impact Albania.

“Like all of our programming, The Tide Albanian-language program, which also reaches into neighboring Kosovo, is produced on-site, using indigenous speakers who tell people about Jesus in the language they were born to speak,” said The Tide Director Don Shenk. “But our ministry in Albania also goes beyond airtime, and our ministry leaders invest into the lives of those to whom they minister, visiting with them, giving them radios so they can listen to the program, praying with them and encouraging them in their faith.”

The ministry of Radio 7 and The Tide has produced noticeable results in just a few short months with letters from those who said they were atheists or Muslims who have now accepted Christ as Lord.

Albania’s population today is less than one percent Christian.