Activists Detained and Harassed After Online Calls for Jasmine Revolution
BEIJING, Feb. 22, 2011 -- The anonymous group that called for Sunday's "jasmine revolution" in China has issued another online statement demanding the release of activists who have been "put under house arrest or detained without due legal process" in the wake of the abortive protests
The group urged people to participate in continued protests, with information on the venue and timing to be released Wednesday.
In the declaration, they criticize China's government as "fascist with a corrupt political system and degrading judicial system" where "officials and their offspring enjoy the monopoly of various resources." The group complains of sky-rocketing property prices, lack of opportunities for ordinary Chinese, a widening wealth gap and a lack of civil rights.
"Media censorship is strict. Media people with conscience are losing their jobs. Constitutional rights are only in paper rather than in practice…. We think the root causes of all this lies in the authoritarian regime," the statement read.
At a press conference today the foreign ministry refused to comment on the calls for a "jasmine revolution," saying only that most Chinese people want stability and that "this is something that no person or force can shake."
In the Northern city of Harbin, a lawyer for a Chinese Internet user who goes by the name of Miao Xiao, said that his client had been charged with "inciting subversion of state power" for spreading information about the jasmine revolution. He is in police custody.
In Shanghai, human rights activist Feng Zhenghu, told ABC News that police had come to his house on Sunday afternoon after he posted photographs of the protests on Twitter.
"The police told me they were told to come to my house by their superiors. They had a search warrant and accused me of disturbing the public order. They took my computer and my printer."
Feng spent three years in prison from 2000-2003 for "illegal business activity" but he believes the real reason for his sentencing was anger over pieces he wrote about civil liberties in China.
