CHINA:CHINA HAS sentenced two elderly women to a year of "re-education through labour" after the pensioners applied for permission to air their grievances in as-yet unused "protest parks" in Beijing.
Wu Dianyuan (79), and her neighbour Wang Xiuying (77), were told they would be sent to a "laojiao" labour camp for a year for applying repeatedly to protest against officials who evicted them from their homes in 2001.
The two women were at home under surveillance by a local Communist Party neighbourhood watch group and the order is seen as an intimidation tactic against the women.
At Ritan Park yesterday, one of the designated protest zones, birds sang, non-dissenting pensioners practised tai chi and tourists walked through the damp precincts, but there was no sign of anyone waving a banner or even raising their voices.
No dissent is tolerated and no disruption allowed during the Olympic Games, which end this weekend and are meant to showcase China's growing openness.
None of 77 applications to protest in the three protest zones in downtown Beijing parks has been approved and the "protest pens" look like a publicity stunt to distract attention from China's failure to meet its human rights promises. Some rights groups say the application process has been used to draw out would-be troublemakers, who will be dealt with when the Olympics are over.
Around seven would-be protesters who sought a permit to demonstrate were taken away by security officials, human rights groups said.
The "laojiao" system gives the police the power to sentence a person guilty of minor offences such as petty theft or prostitution to up to four years in jail without trial. There are 310 "re-education centres" around the country and around 400,000 people have been imprisoned in the 50 years since the rules were introduced, according to government data, although human rights groups believe the figure is higher.
In its ongoing crackdown on dissent during the Olympics, police descended on a group of foreign pro-Tibet activists and some disgruntled business owners from Hong Kong on Thursday, taking both groups away minutes after they displayed protest signs in central Beijing. They also roughed up two Associated Press photographers and confiscated their equipment.
The Hong Kong group was complaining about being swindled in a business deal in Shanghai and their inability to obtain compensation in China's financial capital, despite a court victory. They waved banners before they were taken away by police.
Scores of police also swooped on four activists protesting Chinese rule in Tibet, near the Bird's Nest stadium. At least 37 protesters have been deported after unapproved actions, according to activists and state-run media.