Quashed protests show China's fear of social unrest (News Feature)

By Andreas Landwehr Feb 21, 2011, 13:08 GMT

Beijing - China's state-run media on Monday underscored the government's heightened concern about its ability to contain social unrest, one day after authorities mobilized the security forces to crack down on attempted anti-government protests.

Policehad dispersed scores of people who gathered in central Beijing and Shanghai after an online call to participate in China's own 'Jasmine Revolution,' following the example of Tunisia.

Zhou Yongkang, the ruling Communist Party's domestic security chief, was quoted as saying authorities needed to 'improve and innovate social management' to 'ensure the country's long-term peace and stability.'

'Strive to defuse conflicts and disputes while they are still embryonic,' Zhou said according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Zhou's speech followed calls by President Hu Jintao Saturday to maximize social harmony.

The top-level comments and the show of force by the security apparatus come as a wave of popular unrest spreads across the Middle East and has already forced the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt from office.

The government has restricted media reports on the recent political uprisings in the Arab world, fearful they could inspire similar movements at home.

Authorities blocked internet searches and are suspected of having ordered the detention of scores of human rights lawyers and activists - another indication of their fears.

Google searches for the Chinese word for 'jasmine' returned blank pages with an error message, as did searches on the popular Twitter-like microblog service Sina Weibo and Facebook clone Renren.

Analysts and human rights activists expressed concerns over an intensifying crackdown on dissidents.

Up to 100 lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

'The search and seizures and prolonged custody may indicate a hardening of the measures being taken against the lawyers and activists,' said Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Teng Biao, a lecturer at China University of Political Science and Law, was detained Saturday. He had already been taken and beaten by police in October. The police who beat him allegedly said they were above the law.

'Let's beat him to death and dig a hole to bury him,' one of those who beat him said, according to an account of the incident published in the Wall Street Journal in December.

Police seized Tang Jitian Wednesday after he attended a meeting of supporters of Chen Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer who exposed abuses regarding China's one-child policy.

Tang's whereabouts remain unknown.

Beijing human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong was taken away by police Saturday, his wife Jin Bianling told the German Press Agency dpa.

Postings on websites run by exiled political activists had called on Chinese citizens to gather in 13 major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, on Sunday at 2 pm to express their dissatisfaction with the government and the Communist Party's monopoly on power.

Protesters were urged to shout slogans like 'we want food to eat,' 'we want work,' we want housing,' 'we want justice,' 'long live freedom' and 'long live democracy.'

On Sunday, hundreds had gathered in the Wangfujing pedestrian mall in central Beijing, a short walk from Tiananmen Square. But it was not clear who were the protesters and who were onlookers, and there were few obvious signs of protest.

Police took three people away in Beijing and three others were detained in Shanghai, according to reports.

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