Shanwei, China – Two weeks after a protest that culminated in gunfire and bloodshed, the rebellious farmers and fishermen of Dongzhou have been reduced to submission.
Authorities have sealed off the seaside village and flooded its streets and lanes with police patrols, residents said, and an unknown number of men have been summoned by a knock on the door and hauled away for interrogation.
As a result, the spirit of defiance that pushed several thousand villagers to clash with riot troops and People’s Armed Police on Dec. 6 has been replaced by fear, foreboding and resentment, according to conversations with a number of residents. Normal life has been suspended inside the community, they said, and outsiders who approached recently were halted by police at a barrier with a sign that read: “Entry Not Allowed.”
“We seldom go outside our houses anymore,” said a villager contacted by telephone. “We seldom talk to other villagers. People are afraid to, because the police are patrolling all around the village. We are afraid that if we get together they might arrest us for some reason or another.”
Dongzhou, on the southeast edge of Shanwei city and about 125 miles northeast of Hong Kong, has come under a wave of repression. Shanwei officials, in their announcements, have focused attention on three men they named as “instigators” who they said used “threats and superstition” to arouse their neighbors to rebellion. All three have been in custody since Dec. 9.
The crackdown by officials in Dongzhou was similar to the response by authorities to riots that have erupted with increasingly frequency across China over the past two years, according to accounts by witnesses and participants.
After setting up an investigation, police typically pay rewards to those willing to denounce their neighbors. Protesters have described being taken into custody and suffering excruciating pain at the hands of interrogators who try to force them to admit criminal actions during the rioting.
The Shanwei government, which administers Dongzhou and surrounding areas, has promised to improve social services for villagers, but has not offered any concessions on the dispute that led to the riot: land confiscations to make way for a new power plant.
Instead, villagers said that officials repeatedly have broadcast messages over street-corner loudspeakers urging residents to rally to the police, trust the government and stop being led astray by protest leaders.
Police in white vehicles have set up checkpoints, preventing residents from leaving and others from entering the town. The streets were patrolled by small groups of unarmed police officers. Their mission was evident: a giant red banner strung across a government building just across the road from Dongzhou’s main entrance reads: “Severely punish the criminal elements and return to normal social order.”
For years, the relentless pursuit of those who challenge the state’s authority has impeded the development of anti-government movements. But loyalty toward the state, particularly among peasants, has diminished in recent years, and repressive tactics have become less effective. Still, the government’s harsh methods have so far confined the challenge to uncoordinated local outbursts, like those in Dongzhou, led by people who feel they have little left to lose.
The Public Security Ministry has acknowledged that the number of riots has risen sharply in China, reaching more than 70,000 in 2004.
