Urban Renewal Chinese Style

'China: A True Nightmare on April Fool's Day'

by Meng Zhang, Global Voices

In spite of the occupants' outcry, about 1000 security guards and 20 policemen escorting two diggers intruded into a commodity housing district named Li Shui Jing Yuan in Chongqing, the largest of China's four provincial-level municipalities, to forcibly carried out the developer's reconstruction plan which was officially supported by the local government, causing a serious bloodshed conflict. Some residents recorded the whole event and exposed it on some popular Chinese BBSs, trying to call the attention of the public to the vicious incident which just occurred on April Fool's Day.

Author:Idler－－ Posted on 2008-4-2 11:19

About 9:00a.m. on April 1st, 2008, there were approximately 1000 men dressed in the security guard uniforms and 20 policemen without wearing the number badges that made a forcible entry into the residential quarter, setting up temporary fences, lining up and blocking exits to prevented the residents passing through. Close behind were two large yellow diggers which immediately crushed the enclosing walls of the residential quarter and broke into the basketball court to start crazy digging. Less than 1 hour, the trees around the court were uprooted while all the basketball facilities and the walls around were totally destroyed. Part of the beautiful residential quarter was instantly falling into ruin.

Since it was the workday, only a few old residents staying at home witnessed the awfully startling scenes; besides astonishment, they could only suffer quietly. A young lady living in the residential quarter passed the barbarous construction site as she drove home at 10:00 a.m.. She was forcibly pulled out of the car, grabbed by the hair and received savage beating from those security guards when she just wanted to ask for some information. Then the lady was taken away by a police car.

In addition, 40 staff dressed in police uniforms broke into the quarter at about 20:00p.m. and beat anyone they met, threatening to give the occupants of the quarter a lesson. As a result, 5 people got wounded and another 3 were arrested. With different bruises on the body, especially the injuries to the face and head, which were bleeding badly, the 5 injured people were rushed to the hospital. Another female occupant was run down by a car just now when she protested to safeguard the rights. The driver not only left the injured lady on the road, but also intended to hurt other residents while the policemen was just standing nearby, showing no emotion. We called 110(the emergency telephone number), but they would not step in to stop the violence. We are being hurt one by one and still haven't received any news from the arrested neighbors. Now Li Shui People can only depend on ourselves; only unity in good faith can protect our home and legitimate rights and interests, and prev
ent us from harming again！

We have been trying to get the media's support since the incident happened, hoping that the whole thing can be widely exposed to the public. However, after contacting with Chongqing Daily, Chongqing Times, Chongqing Real Estate and Chongqing TV station, the answers were either "the authorities have ordered no one can report this" or simply no reply at all. Only one reporter from a portal website came to cover the events and make the gathering material a 7-minute short video and publish it on the Internet.

The occupants of the quarter tried to report the truth to the government through the mayor's public telephone and mail box, but it's just like a stone dropped into the sea, no response at all.

Because it's an emergency, the occupants immediately dial 110 to ask for help, but the 110 replied: the developer is executing the government's order.

We can't believe, our cozy home where we have been living for 4 years can be brazenly spoiled by the diggers over one morning, leaving a trail of destruction and completely destroyed walls; we can't believe, the policemen could stand with the developer's goons, cruelly beating the unarmed and totally innocent residents; we can't believe, in a democratic country under the rule of law, the law-abiding citizens even can't protect their own legitimate property, which can be handily snatched away by an official document! We can't believe, whom we can still believe in...?

The intentional violence reported by the occupants living in Li Shui Residential quarter was promptly spread among the netizens and almost all the people were greatly shocked by the bloody scenes. Nevertheless, such negative influence which were obviously derogate from the harmonious principles, were subsequently restricted by the Internet regulators. Many BBSs canceled all the posts related to the reports about Li Shui Residential quarter or turned down new comments on the events so that the relevant posts could be rapidly out of the first page, and the only video report made by the mentioned professional journalist was removed, either. (In fact, the journalist only published the video in a personal blog) Even so, the people living in or near Li Shui residential quarter still persisted in publishing information on the situation through some relatively freer sites like ifeng, mop and daqi.com.

Author:qq822 Posted on 2008-4-2 23:59

Today(April 2) several other people are arrested by the criminal policemen who apparently planed to pin the crime of assaulting police officer on our occupants. The conflict last night is just a put-up job made by those muggers; they want to provoke the conflict between the occupants and police, so that they can find excuse to crackdown the protest to cover the inside stories that the officials are conspiring with the developer. Clearly, the occupants only had a clash with developer's security guards(thugs in fact); when did the officials engage? Even if they let those thugs put on the police uniforms (they had done it last time), why are there only pictures of the injured occupants? Why don't those officials present at that time take any pictures of the so called "public servants", even not in the hospital?(only the government officials are allowed to take pictures. Any photos taken by the residents are forced to be confiscated and anyone refuse to do so will be beaten or a
rrested. You may directly see how hard to take pictures through those photos above) The authorities can arrest people without any evidence; how did such lawless thing happen in a municipality? How dark it is!

Author:qq822 Posted on 2008-4-3 11:30

Now even the hospital（the Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University)where the injured occupants receive treatment is under surveillance of the plainclothes police and developer's thugs. People who go to visit the injured neighbors may also be arrested or beaten. It's even hard to send money for the injuries' medical fees.

Author:Walk and see1 Posted on 2008-4-3 17:20

The latest information of the Chongqing Li Shui Jing Yuan event 20080403

1. About the injuries: Since the event happened, many occupants have been beaten, including a number of young ladies. Some people who are seriously hurt have been sent to the emergency room of Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University. It's learned that there are still 5 people receiving treatment there; 2 of them is with head injuries(skin avulsion and cerebral concussion), 1 with hematoma outside the dura mater and the other 2 with trauma of chest wall. Allegedly the authorities have issued orders on the sly that the hospital can only leave the injured occupants in the emergency room and no one should hospitalize them unless they are in danger of losing their life. Besides, the occupants who spontaneously went to visit the injuries on that night were also clobbered by the monitoring policemen and some of them were forcibly taken away. Because it's not allowed to visit the injured occupants, their conditions are still unclear.

2. About the police and security guards: Since April 1, everyday from 8:30a.m. to 22:00 p.m., there will be about 300 security guards and more than 200 policemen with riot shields, whips, batons and a dozen of police cars concentrating at the back gate of Li Shui Jing Yuan residential quarter where the construction site is located and every night there is a police car and some policemen patrolling around the quarter. According to the police officers involved, they are actually not working this area(Xiejiawan Avenue), but brought up from different parts of Jiulongpo District; and the security guards working by shifts are employed from the security company. As to why they are summoned here, the police themselves "are also not very clear. the task seems to be facing the occupants down so that the developer can build construction without any hindrance." When we asked their thoughts on the matter, the police said, "just know the developer is going to occupy others' green area to b
uild houses. The commodity house is much more lucrative than the green area, isn't it? We are just at the beck and call of the authorities." Obviously, because no occupant dare step forward to protest again, most of the policemen look very indifferent, even a little bored, chatting with each other or playing cards in the cars.

3. About the arrested occupants: Since the conflict in April 1, more than 20 occupants have been arrested or cited by the police. They are old Mr. Yang, Mr. Ran, Mr. Liu, Ms. Wang and so on. One of the occupants revealed, while his family was being seized he only heard "Someone's breaking in..." on the phone and then not a word was spoken, so he hastened back to the residential quarter to check the Monitoring videos, finding his family had been secretly taken away by a group of people; and over the whole night, he couldn't get through to any of his family's cellphone. Until this morning, one of the occupants through many connections finally learned something from the detention house of Jiulongpo District: His family were arrested for obstructing the officials in the course of their duty. The occupant was allowed to bring some daily necessities to his family without meeting and calling them. No one knows how long the custody will last. Many more occupants are still waiting fo
r the news from the missing persons.

4. About Li Shui Jing Yuan Residential Quarter: Since April 1, occupants are not allowed to visit the injured neighbors while more and more people are arrested...it's said afraid of the developer's retaliation, some occupants who stood forward to protect the rights during the early period dare not stay over at home... at night three searchlights set on the heights throw out powerful beams over the residential quarter, which makes the district like a Nazi concentration camp.