About 2,000 petitioners gathered in Shanghai on Wednesday, March 20, to protest against communist authorities, who they said had locked up a large number of petitioners in Beijing during China’s recent annual “Two Meetings.”
Every Wednesday, the Shanghai municipal government building at No. 200 Renmin Boulevard is crowded with petitioners. Many have filed requests for years, but without response. They spend their time recounting the injustices they have suffered under what they call the tyranny of the Chinese regime.
Shanghai petitioner Mr. Zhang told The Epoch Times that the police were closely watching the protesters, who were shouting slogans like “Down with corruption” and “Remove the corrupt officials.”
“There were about 100 police officers on site, with many other plainclothes police and about 10 police cars,” he said. “At about 11 a.m., police started moving in, but the protesters refused to leave. When police began arresting people, everybody started shouting.”
During the “Two Meetings,” many Shanghai petitioners traveled to Beijing seeking redress for grievances and injustices, but instead of being heard, they were detained by the authorities, Mr. Zhang said.
“The number of detainees was the largest ever,” he said. “Based on incomplete statistics, there were about 115 whose names we knew. Some of those people still have not been released as of today.”
According to an article written by a Shanghai petitioner, officials from the State Bureau for Letters and Calls revealed that over 10,000 petitioners made their pleas at the Bureau on March 5, a record number.
Translation by Frank Fang and Olivia Li. Research by Ariel Tian. Written in English by Mary Silver and Cassie Ryan.
Read the original Chinese article.
