20 Reported Killed as Chinese Unrest Escalates

Is another revolution in the making?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/international/asia/09cnd-china.html?ei=5094&en=a42a6c1e282d9ade&hp=&ex=1134190800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print


December 9, 2005

By HOWARD W. FRENCH

SHANGHAI, Dec. 9 - Residents of a fishing village near Hong Kong said that as many as 20 people had been killed by paramilitary police in an unusually violent clash that marked an escalation in the widespread social protests that have roiled the Chinese countryside. Villagers said that as many as 50 other residents remain unaccounted for since the shooting. It is the largest known use of force by security forces against ordinary citizens since the killings around Tiananmen Square in 1989. That death toll remains unknown, but is estimated to be in the hundreds.

The violence began after dark in the town of Dongzhou on Tuesday evening. Terrified residents said their hamlet has remained occupied by thousands of security forces, who have blocked off all access roads and are reportedly arresting residents who attempt to leave the area in the wake of the heavily armed assault.

"From about 7 p.m. the police started firing tear gas into the crowd, but this failed to scare people," said a resident who gave his name only as Li and claimed to have been at the scene, where a relative of his was killed. "Later, we heard more than 10 explosions, and thought they were just detonators, so nobody was scared. At about 8 p.m. they started using guns, shooting bullets into the ground, but not really targeting anybody.

"Finally, at about 10 p.m. they started killing people."

...

over people when it wants to put a polluting factory in town, or to create a landfill on the coast where fishing grounds are. In other cases, I've heard about riots started when rich officials go too far lording it over impoverished provincials.

This sort of exercise in power makes Republicans giddy with envy. That and raw greed are the primary reasons for the nature of the administration's relationship with the current Chinese government. They can't wait to try out the same here at home.

Another link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/09/international/i092407S20.DTL