Beating of Shandong Resident Leads to Clash Between Security Officials, Villagers

March 1, 2006

Several hundred villagers protested and clashed with public security officials on February 5 in Dongshigu village, Linyi city, Shandong province, as officials beat and detained villager Chen Hua, according to a February 6 Reuters report.

Several hundred villagers protested and clashed with public security officials on February 5 in Dongshigu village, Linyi city, Shandong province, as officials beat and detained villager Chen Hua, according to a February 6 Reuters report. Chen received the official mistreatment after he came near the heavily-guarded home of human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who brought international news media attention in 2005 to violent abuses by Linyi population planning officials. Villagers overturned police vehicles and public security officials called for reinforcements and threw stones at the villagers, according to a February 8 Ming Pao report. Tensions in the village subsided on February 6, according to a February 7 South China Morning Post (subscription required) report. Officials released Chen Hua on February 12, and detained Chen Guangdong and other unnamed villagers on February 13, according to a report (in Chinese) the same day by the Voice of America.

Chen Guangcheng’s actions to expose population planning abuses in Linyi city resulted in severe official repression, according to a number of sources. In September 2005, local population planning officials placed Chen under unofficial house arrest, sealed off the village to outsiders, and hired thugs to intimidate Chen, the villagers, and outside visitors. The Reuters report quoted Chen Guangcheng's comments on the clash: "The villagers are angry because they suffer abuse from these people [security officials] as well." According to Radio Free Asia reports, officials beat Chen Guangcheng on October 4 and on October 24. According to a January 8 Boxun report (in Chinese) thugs beat Yuan Weijing, Chen’s wife, on December 27, 2005. In September 2005, national population planning officials promised to punish those responsible for the population planning abuses in Linyi, but Guardian reporters were unable to confirm that any local officials had been punished, according to a February 3 Guardian report.

For more information on Population Planning in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(i).