Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews On March 30,nearly 10,000 people took to the streets in Maoming City,Guangdong Province,to protest against the PX construction project. The local government sent police to violently suppress the protests. Sources report that 8 people were killed,and 83 injured. However,this did not have the outcome of ending protests. On March 31,people again gathered at the municipal compound in a standoff with police until around 4 a.m. Authorities did not yield, and transferred more SWAT police to the site,which included tanks. This increased the tension in the situation. On March 30,at around noon, over 10,000 people marched to Maoming City Hall,with banners. The authorities dispatched thousands of armed police, special police and armored vehicles to the scene. At around 4 p.m.,the police suddenly used violence and began beating protestors,with many severely injured. The violence shown by the authorities did not deter protestors. On the same evening,thousands of people again gathered in the streets close to the city government compound. The situation worsened during the evening, when police and protestors clashed again. The police continued to use tear gas, smoke bombs and launched high-pressure water cannons. They even shot tear gas at students who were traveling home after finishing night classes. Protestors used stones and bricks to fight back, and several police vehicles were overturned and burned. According to online news,the repression on the evening of March 30 caused eight deaths. 83 people were hospitalized with serious injuries and a further 200 people sustained minor injuries. One netizen stated:"This is the underworld. They are the underworld wearing uniforms. We cannot mistake a monkey with a hat as a human being. We cannot think of this uniformed underworld as the police." Maoming Municipal Government announced after the clearance that a small number of demonstrators were instigated by criminals to make trouble in the evening. They reported that police responded quickly and no one died in the incident. Maoming authorities also claimed that the demonstrations were illegal. These events were not reported in any major Chinese media, and the search term"Maoming"is banned on microblogs. Hong Kong's Apple Daily news hotline crashed, as it was overloaded with users accessing information about the Maoming events. Many people in Maoming asked for help to"cross the border,"telling Apple Daily that they had been repressed. A HK resident on a business trip to Maoming wrote on Facebook about his five-hour experience witnessing the violent clearance by police. "The police fired at people. Some were vomiting and spitting out blood.I realized the terror of the Communist regime." At noon on March 31,people in Maoming gathered again at the city government compound. They confronted thousands of police until around 3 or 4 a.m.the following day. Ms. Chen,who lives near the city government compound, said that she saw police firing tear gas and beating people. They also arrested a lot of people. Ms.Chen:"Armed police beat people if they gathered together,chasing people everywhere and shooting tear gas. They also gathered all police from places around Maoming, such as Xinyi and Gaozhou. Tanks from Guangzhou came over as well. Today,there are still protestors,but not as many." Ms Chan said police were at the roads leading in and out of Maoming. Highways and streets near the government compound are blocked. Online information shows that on March 31,the Maoming government transferred six bus loads of special force officers and tanks from other areas. People described feeling the terror in the air. Chen Yongmiao,Beijing political expert, describes how the Chinese Communist Party(CCP)has been acting as a dictator in front of the public since it took power in 1949. It has never changed,always carrying out severe repression. It can't buy over ordinary people like it does to intellectuals. Chen Yongmiao:"Its regime is based on violence and tanks.It has always been frightening people by killing. It knows people are a little stronger than intellectuals,so it is more violent toward them." On April 1,about 300 people carried out protests against PX in the vicinity of Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou City. Youth from Maoming held banners and slogans. These protesters also clashed with the police. Some protesters were arrested and put into police cars. According to online news,students from eight middle schools in Maoming are on strike,undertaking sit-in protests. Apple Daily also revealed that the public is planning a city-wide strike on April 4. It seems that the protest at Maoming has been suppressed by tanks. According to reports on a microblog,the CCP leadership has issued a death order. 《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/

• published: 02 Apr 2014
• views: 1474