Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Yongzhou riot

This morning I heard from TV news that there was a riot in the ancient city of Yongzhou, Hunan province. This was casued by a bus fare increase of more than 30%. An extra fee was levied on people who carry bulky items. More than 20,000 people joined the riot and burned some police cars. It happened two days ago. But the official censorship worked so well that I got no information from any mainland websites or blogs. The only only source is from anti-communist media and a handful of foreign media.

A huge number of riot police has already been stationed there and no entry to the city is allowed. The local officials confirmed that some participants were arrested and detained but no death. Yet there is a rumour that a student was killed.

A few days ago, a mainland intellectual said that she missed the era of "big poster". Now even a "small poster" is not allowed. This remark might surprise a lot of people who see the rapid development of internet in China. Yet if you go to visit blogcn, you can understand what she meant. All entries about this incident were already deleted. Now not many politically controversial issues and discussions are seen on the most popular blog-hosting websites.

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