Chinese protesters, police expect more unrest

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese rights activists say they expect anti-government protests to spread in 2006 as more citizens defy arrests and crackdowns to demand fuller rights, and officials have also warned of continued unrest. 

"In recent years, the Chinese mainland's citizen rights defence campaign has gathered force, and its influence and scale are constantly expanding," writes Li Jian, an activist based in northeast China, in a new report. 

"The authorities worry that from its midst will emerge opinion leaders and organisers with social credibility and broad influence," writes Li, who runs a Web site devoted to "rights" issues. His report was issued on several Chinese Web sites based overseas. 

Li's comments were recently echoed in different terms by a senior police official, who told officers to brace for unrest in 2006. 

Bai Jingfu, a vice minister of Public Security, told a meeting on Dec. 19 that the end of one year and the start of a new one was often a time of increased "mass incidents" -- the official term for riots, protests and mass petitions. 

"We must appropriately deal with major mass incidents according to the law, and we must strictly prevent bloodshed," Bai added in comments reported by the China Public Security News on Dec. 20. 

In August, police minister Zhou Yongkang said China had recorded 74,000 "mass incidents" in 2004, compared to 10,000 a decade before. Many of these protests involve farmers denouncing loss of land for inadequate compensation. 

Li's report paints a mixed picture of continued, possibly increased, arrests and government restrictions on China's self-styled "rights protection" activists set against continued popular unrest and increasingly organised protests. 

"There's a deepening crisis around citizens' rights in China, and 2006 may be an important year," Li told Reuters. 

"Ordinary people are increasingly aware of their rights, and the Internet is helping this, but the authorities are also worried and may strike back." 

A Chinese rights campaigner who joined in some of China's most prominent clashes between residents and officials also said he expects protests to increase. 

While detentions and restrictions will continue, rights campaigners feel emboldened by the recent freeing of some activists, said Guo Feixiong, a full-time rights activist. 

Guo was released on Dec. 27 without charge after more than three months in detention, but said he would continue organising disgruntled farmers and workers. 

He was arrested near Guangzhou, the capital of southern China's Guangdong province, after helping residents of Taishi village there protest against officials they said were corrupt and unaccountable. Guo said police could not find evidence to charge him with any crimes. 

"My release shows that the forces of oppression still exist, but can only go so far," Guo told Reuters. 

Guo said he and other activists were planning a petition calling for clearer controls over China's anti-riot militia -- the People's Armed Police -- to avoid the kind of bloodshed that shook Dongzhou, 210 km (130 miles) east of Taishi, on Dec. 6. 

At least three residents there were shot dead by troops after protesting against a loss of land to a power plant. 

Guo said he hoped to educate China's farmers in the peaceful protest methods of Mahatma Gandhi, the pacifist founder of modern India. 

"If China is going to avoid increased bloodshed and instability, we must directly study Gandhi's methods of non-violent, active protest". 

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