> http://chinhdangvu.blogspot.com/2008/08/arrest-threat-means-protest-p...
>
> Monday, August 18, 2008
> Arrest threat means protest park is for the birds
> John Garnaut, Beijing
> RITAN Park, the "altar of the sun", is one of Beijing's three official
> protest zones. But those hoping to witness a seething hotbed of
> subversion will be sorely disappointed.
> Yesterday, the old men had come to play their wooden flutes, old women
> to practise tai chi and young mothers to park their prams and chat
> away the morning — much as they have always done.
> Had they seen any protesters?
> "What are you asking for?" said a middle-aged woman, upset that we had
> interrupted her view of the old men who had gathered to play a jaunty
> rendition of Auld Lang Syne. "This is our place to play."
> A security official at the main park gate laughed at the mere mention
> of a protest.
> "Of course we haven't had any protests," she said, without giving her
> name. "Protesters have to apply to the Public Security Bureau for
> permission, and they haven't given permission to anyone."
> The Chinese Government had promised the Olympic Games would "enhance"
> human rights. It promised to set aside special protest parks, where
> demonstrators could safely congregate without disturbing the Olympics.
> Last week, state media reported that anyone could protest in the three
> designated parks provided they first apply for permission and
> "clarify" the purpose, time, route, process of activity and details of
> any posters or slogans to be used.
> China's would-be protesters — and there are tens of thousands of them
> — are accustomed to the Government opening up official channels of
> protest or complaint which turn out to be little more than
> intelligence operations.
> The official petitioning system doubles as an easy way to identify,
> monitor and sometimes detain potential trouble-makers.
> It is impossible to know if the Chinese Government had ever intended
> to honour its Olympic commitments or if well-intended plans only went
> out the window after the March riots in Tibet.
> But the hard men are now in control of maintaining "stability" and
> protest parks have turned out to be another cruel trick.
> "The protest parks are a cynical sham by the Chinese Government so
> they can tick a box for the international community," said Phelim
> Kine, Asia researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch.
> Of the few who were brave or foolhardy enough to apply for permission
> to protest, at least six have been arrested.
> Mostly, they complain that their houses have been illegally demolished
> or their farmland appropriated.
> Ritan Park, like most parts of Beijing where tourists might
> congregate, has had a spectacular facelift. The purple lotuses are
> blooming, red lanterns swing gently from the trees and great red
> banners are instructing everyone to have a "joyful" and "harmonious"
> Olympics.
> The regulars say they have never seen their park looking so beautiful
> and peaceful.
> At the top of one of the park's pagodas, four men have gathered to
> play and sing a classic Chinese love tragedy.
> The song is taken from a 1980s television production of one of China's
> greatest and most famous novels, Dream of the Red Chamber.
> The hero, Jia Baoyu, falls in love with a poor, beautiful poet called
> Lin Daiyu. But on their wedding day Jia lifts the red veil of his wife-
> to-be and discovers that his grandmother has conspired to replace his
> lover with someone who has a more appropriately noble background.
> Lin dies of a broken heart, Jia shaves his head and becomes a Taoist
> priest. It is an Olympian tale of hope, deception and despair.