China confines activists on eve of anniversary

By The Associated Press and Knight Ridder Newspapers

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Activists Wang Guoqi, Zhang Chunzhu and Yang Jing were all moved into hotels outside Beijing in the past week, the Center for Human Rights and Decency said in a statement.

Two other prominent activists, Liu Xiaobo and Jiang Yanyong, could no longer be contacted by telephone and may also have been taken away by authorities, it said.

Jiang, a military surgeon, petitioned the government to admit it made mistakes in crushing the Tiananmen protests.

Activists say Chinese authorities have tightened their surveillance in recent weeks, stepping up round-the-clock monitoring, tapping phones and forcing departures from the capital city in an effort to prevent public memorials as the anniversary approaches.

Hundreds, if not thousands, died in the attack, which the government has branded a counterrevolutionary riot. It has never issued a death toll and has detained and harassed activists who try to assemble their own.

The rise to power of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao early last year marked a generational change in China's leadership, and some critics hoped for a reappraisal of the student-led pro-democracy protests.

But expectations have withered. The Communist Party quashes any public debate about the massacre.

Reflecting the intense feelings over the killings, about 5,000 people marched in Hong Kong on Sunday to commemorate those who died.

Among those in China who've tried for years to get an official reappraisal of the 1989 protests are a small group of women whose children were killed when the demonstrations were crushed.

Police restricted the movements of three of these "Tiananmen mothers" this year, as they have in years past during the period around the anniversary.

"We simply want justice over the June 4th incident from the government. They killed people that day. They are guilty," said Zhang Xianling, a 67-year-old retired aerospace engineer whose 19-year-old son was shot in the head during the protests.

Zhang and two other mothers, Ding Zilin and Yin Min, had expected to deliver a letter to authorities last Friday about former Premier Li Peng, who ordered the protests crushed. All three were confined to their homes.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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